2026 · Video art

No-cry

The project grows out of a constant collision with unspoken demands for typically masculine behaviour from my family — above all, not showing feelings linked to sadness, “weakness”, or intolerance. These demands were woven into everyday life, prescribing what “correct” behaviour should look like. Crying, for example, had to be suppressed before it even began — even when an external event such as my mother’s terminal illness called for it. I was told that tears would not help another person; and when I sobbed in front of my parents, they pretended not to notice. The result is a failure of bodily automatism. Over time the external prohibition is internalized so deeply that it no longer feels imposed: it becomes “second nature”, a muscular armour that fires faster than affect can be recognised. You no longer hold back tears — you simply cannot cry, even when you want to, even when you are alone. The norm eats into the body until it is indistinguishable from it. Video art “No-cry” The video shows the reverse of what that armour produces. Where attempts to cry are blocked and turn into grimaces, here crying finally happens. The author cries — but that cry becomes artificial through the technique of its making: AI-generated animation. As an exhibition format, I propose a projection onto the wall of a men’s toilet — next to an ordinary mirror above the sink — asking other men whether the capacity to show feeling has been taken from them too, and inviting them to give affect free rein.