La Repasseuse (The Ironing Woman) is a multi-layered video production. In the background, it features anonymized coverage of the Ukrainian war as it was broadcasted by Ukrainian and Russian television stations. In front of this, there is the ironing woman. On top of it all you see the stock market ticker and subtitles. The sound plays an equal role to the image: we hear a Ukrainian voice reading excerpts from Machiavelli’s “Il Principe”, translated in Russian. It is accompanied by sounds from the crossroads where the creator lives and a dedicated minimalistic composition for violin and piano that Guido Janssens made specially for La Repasseuse.
Essentially, nothing moves or changes in this video. It is a portrait of our current way of living: the war is nearly invisible outside the frontline, we continue our daily lives, staring occasionally at the spectacular images of bombings and explosions. The Fall of Icarus, the Milkmaid and the minimalistic video operas of the 80’s are not far away.
La Repasseuse also exists in a 1 hour version.
Guido Janssens is a video artist, photographer, and composer who also creates events and installations. His work is influenced by two elements: his original studies as a musicologist and his past experience as a marketer. The former is responsible for the importance of time, (slow) rhythm and sound, as well as the references to historical contexts and art styles. The latter is responsible for his use of contemporary media and his need to convey complex content in simple messages. With his videos, he was finalist in the Concours d’Arts Plastiques et Visuels of the city of Nivelles and winner of the price of the Audio-Visual Service of the University of Louvain.