Candice Breitz (b. 1972) is presenting at the Kunsthalle Krems her 2022 video work Whiteface as part of the donaufestival. The work by the South-African born artist explores “whiteness” and “white privilege.”

Over several years, Breitz collected media recordings documenting how “white” people speak about race. These perspectives range from right-wing extremist ideologies and propaganda to everyday racism and coming across as a “good white person.” They also illustrate how “white” people wrestle with stereotypes, such as “white privilege”, “white sensitivity”, or “white guilt”.

In Whiteface, the artist appropriates these archive voices like a ventriloquist’s dummy and, donning various wigs, spotlights the conditions of “whiteness”. The film is a portrait of panicked “white” people and satirizes this absurd fear. The artist’s deliberately theatrical performance draws attention to the constructedness of “whiteness” and other racialized categories.