Excess och kontroll : an Analysis of Annika Larsson’s Videos Pink Ball and Poliisi

Sammanfattning: The aim of the thesis is to identify and investigate central themes in two video artworks, Poliisi and Pink Ball, by Swedish artist Annika Larsson. Moreover it is an investigation of the configurations of violence, and an enquiring whether these works have a social-minded intention. Elements in scenery, framing and narration are analysed with the term “crystalline regime” (régim cristallin), described by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, which defines the artificial as opposed to the purely representational. Processes within the narrations of the two works are analysed as rituals, which leads to an investigation of an internal sign-system and to the question whether the rituals in these works have a function. Theory by French philosopher Georges Bataille is used to analyse the ritual with no external purpose, which aims at an intense experience of life. Bataille’s concept “intensity” is used to describe violent as much as erotic themes in the narration as well as in the way the characters are presented, regarding music, camera-angles, etc. Furthermore, the thesis refutes interpretations in which Annika Larssons works are viewed as comments on political matters, such as gender-issues.