Milo Moiret: Turning exhibitionism into art and vice versa

For everyone who came across the work of Milo Moiré, it caused only two categorical emotions: rejection or delight. But the main thing is that not a single spectator of her performances remains indifferent. The constant detentions of the artist by the police in European capitals have long been perceived by Milo herself as recognition of her talent. How does the unusual art of an artist who gave up paints and canvas for the sake of actionism work?

(Careful! Nude).

Milo Moire was born in well-fed and prosperous Switzerland, where her parents came from less successful Slovakia and Spain. The artist says that as a child, she preferred drawing accessories to all toys. Growing up, Moiret remained faithful to the colors for a while, but then an epiphany came to her.

Milo realized that visual art is in many ways dead and unable to convey emotions. It is devoid of dynamism — it cannot give the viewer a pause to comprehend what is happening, the message with which the artist is coming to him. In the rapidly developing genre of performance, Moiret saw dynamism, without which any work, even the most beautiful, looks stillborn.

But first there was a fascination with the luminaries of fine art, such as Munch, Bacon, Kahlo, Kete Kollwitz and Hans Rudolf Giger. To learn how to feel better, Moiret received a degree in psychology from the University of Bern. Only then came the realization of his path in art and the choice of his own body as an instrument.

The first creative work in a new format for Moire was the work of an erotic model. Teaming up with photographer Peter Palm, Milo made bold shots that can be described as light porn and sold them to everyone. On the Internet, the photo could be downloaded for free, but the artist took from 120 to 160 euros for the author's imprint.

Today Milo Moiret positions himself as a conceptual artist, an art Amazon and a psychologist. Her actions are shocking and seem absurd, but at the same time they are always filled with deep meaning. One of Milo's most famous performances was the Mirror Box. The artist invited people on the street to touch her breasts and vagina, hidden in mirrored boxes with holes for hands.

The Moire action gathered a lot of spectators on a London street, although few people wanted to "touch art". While the bravest touched the artist for the most intimate places, she loudly proclaimed:

As expected, it all ended with the appearance of the police and the detention of Moire. Nothing new. In April 2013, early in the morning, tram passengers in Dusseldorf, Germany, were finally woken up by an artist who entered the car completely naked. Instead of items of clothing, their names were written on Milo's body.

Moiret repeated the performance with inscriptions a year later at the Swiss exhibition Art Basel 2014. Needless to say, he was a success with the public and especially with the guards of the expocentre, who did not leave the woman until she got dressed. In the same eventful 2014, the activist staged a performance "Slap-Egg" during the art exhibition "Art Column" in Cologne.

Milo, as usual, completely naked, climbed onto a special platform mounted above a large sheet of paper and, literally, gave birth to art, dropping eggs filled with paints from her vagina. The workflow ended with the fact that the sheet with paint spots was folded in half, resulting in a kind of Rorschach spots. A photocopy of the work can still be bought from the author for 200 euros.

There were other, no less bold actions, attracting equally both the audience and the police. Despite all the efforts of Milo Moiret, the high creative elite is in no hurry to accept her into their ranks and, as at the beginning of her journey, she remains a free artist. Some people think that she is not too confident in herself as a creator, so she continues to participate in candid photo shoots and sell her photos.

The passion to be naked in the most inappropriate places makes Milo Moiret related to another lady - the Belgian model Marisa Papen, far from high art.