Addie Wagenknecht

Addie Wagenknecht on identity, self-criticism, and the self-sabotage

Fighting windmills

Duration: 6 minutes 5 seconds

This work stages a surreal, synthesized deep fake boxing match between the artist and herself to visualize our psyche’s self-deprecation as a sport. 

Fighting Windmills is series of unique video works. On one level, it can be seen as a tongue-in-cheek experiment in absurdity and fakery, as Wagenknecht “fights herself” in a simulated match. However, the work also serves as a metaphor for the internal struggles and conflicts we all face in trying to know ourselves. The boxing ring becomes an arena where the artist grapples with her own identity and sense of self. Do we truly know or understand ourselves, or is our self-perception shaped by artificial constructs? Wagenknecht’s use of deepfake technology suggests the malleability of identity, while the absurd premise of fighting an imagined version of oneself speaks to the universal challenge of achieving self-understanding. With Fighting Windmills, Wagenknecht deftly probes existential questions through the lens of technology, artificiality, and self-perception.

Addie Wagenknecht's work blends conceptual art with forms of hacking and gestural abstraction. She has exhibited at institutions including Whitechapel Gallery, Centre Pompidou and The New Museum NYC, and has collaborated with Whitney Museum of American Art, CERN, Chanel, and Google’s Art Machine Intelligence Group. She has been a fellow at Eyebeam Art + Technology Center and Culture Lab UK, and was Mozilla's first Open(art) Fellow.

Presented by NGUYEN WAHED