L.A. Raeven: Killer Queen
Saturday 2 March 2002
During Rotterdam Museum night, Witte de With showed the video installation Killer Queen (2001) in the presence of twin artists L.A. Raeven.
Killer Queen deals with coercive drinking, flirting youngsters, beauty and behavioral codes. The work is a registration of a performance held in Casco, a contemporary art space in Utrecht. In the film, eight young models are participating in a question and answer game in which drinking a glass of champagne is punishment for a wrong answer. As the game progresses, the models, while outbidding each other and flirting, get increasingly drunk. A fragment of the classic song ‘Killer Queen’, by the British rock band Queen, sounds in the background.
Killer Queen reveals the hidden aspects of liquor advertisement to minors. It shows the decadence and exclusivity of the champagne brand, but also the banality of drunkenness in a group situation.
Killer Queen is organized by Tanja Elstgeest and Nathalie Zonnenberg.