Godiva

Hodel's frenetic costuming enhances this comically manic represenataion of a woman, chocolate, accessories, and other worlds.

1997, 4:31 min, Hi-8, sound; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; editing: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix, and Alex Noyes, Mercer Street Sound.

Past Life: Fisherman's Woman

Hodel's story unfolds with a voiceover describing the humiliation of a woman who leaves her family for passion, only to be returned to an unforgiving husband and town when her suitor discovers her pregnancy.

1997, 8:15 min, Hi-8; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; text: Ursula Hodel; voiceover: Tracy Leipold; editing: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix, and Maria Venuto, Mercer Street Sound; soundtrack: Stephen Vitiello; soundmix: Alex Noyes, Mercer Street Sound. Performed as part of Missing Dimension Düsseldorf, Germany, July 1995.

Havana

This two-channel work is a performance for the viewer. With a cigar in her mouth, and wearing black stockings and stiletto heels, Hodel moves in hungry anticipation of a voyeuristic audience.

1997, 29 min, Hi-8; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; editing: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix; soundtrack: Stephen Vitiello; soundmix: Alex Noyes, Mercer Street Sound.

Past Life: Joan of Arc

Hodel evokes a childhood long ago in France, as an angel prophesies the future of the Maid of Orleans.

1997, 7 min, Hi-8; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; text: Ursula Hodel; voiceover: Beatrice Roth; editing: Maria Venuto, Mercer Street Sound; soundtrack: Stephen Vitiello; soundmix: Alex Noyes, Mercer Street Sound.

Past Life: Mother

Buried in roses, Hodel'contemplates what it means to be a mother. She envisions her mother in black-"one of her depressions"-and how it feels to be carrying a child.

1997, 16:26 min, Hi-8; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; text: Ursula Hodel; voiceover: Tracy Leipold; editing: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix, and Maria Venuto, Mercer Street Sound. Performed as part of Missing Dimension Düsseldorf, Germany, July 1995.

Petit Mort

Petit mort (literally little death) translates as "orgasm" in English. Here, using two channels, Hodel stacks an image of herself masturbating above a blurred self-portrait in which her facial contortions reveal her pleasure.

1997, 14:06 min, Hi-8, silent; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; editing: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix, and Maria Venuto, Mercer Street Sound.

Past Life: Queen Christina

In this continuation of her Past Life series, Hodel touches on, among other subjects, family obligation, arranged marriages, and resistance.

1997, 11 min, Hi-8; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; voiceover/text: Ursula Hodel; editing: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix, and Maria Venuto, Mercer Street Sound; soundtrack: Stephen Vitiello; soundmix: Bill Seery and Alex Noyes, Mercer Street Sound.

Speedo

Here both sound and image are accelerated. Hodel, wearing a golden bathing suit, applies a layer of chocolate to her bathing cap. In a voice synchronized to the speeded-up image, she describes the production process.

1997, 7:34 min, Hi-8; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; text: Ursula Hodel; voiceover: Tracy Leipold; editing: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix, and Maria Venuto, Mercer Street Sound; soundmix: Alex Noyes, Mercer Street Sound.

Past Life: Egypt

Armed with a small digital video- camera, the dominant Hodel instructs her submisive partner. In this collaboration, a playful studio interior becomes the set for Hodel's past-life regression.

1997, 9 min, digital video; a video by Ursula Hodel made for the Bernadette Corporation; cast: Ursula Hodel, Jon Roberts, Chivas Clenn; cameras: Jack Pierson, D'antek, Ursula Hodel, Jon Roberts, Andrew Madrid; voiceover: Ursula Hodel; editor: Jonathan Horowitz; makeup: Nancy Schatt; hair: Jimmy Paul; produced by Jack Pierson; © 1997 Ursula Hodel and Jack Pierson.

Totem

Three images are stacked vertically. each revealing a separate stage of Hodel’s performance in Makeover.

1998, 22 min, Hi-8; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; off-line edit: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix; on-line editing: Jim Meigel, Broadway Video; music: Stephen Vitiello.

Cornuto

As Hodel devours a phallic ear of corn, her rhythmic consumption mimics the motion of a typewriter. The image swipes from side to side with the resounding ding of the carriage return.

1998, 7:34 min, Hi-8, sound; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; editing: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix, and Alex Noyes, Mercer Street Sound; soundmix: Bill Seery, Mercer Street Sound.

Imelda

Driven by an ironic anxiety-ridden soundtrack, Hodel sits before a buffet of designer footwear. She dresses her arms and legs in various combinations, representing herself as a creature born of obsession and fetish.

1998, 5:29 min, Hi-8; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; editing: Alex Noyes, Mercer Media, and Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix; soundtrack: Stephen Vitiello.

Cornucopia

Two images presented side by side, record the same events from different points of view. Hodel lies on a bed feeding herself strawberries—with some difficulty, as her face is covered by a veil. The camera pans down her body to the blanket of berries from which she serves herself.

1998, 8:42 min, Hi-8; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; editing: Maria Venuto, Mercer Street Sound; soundtrack: Stephen Vitiello; soundmix: Alex Noyes, Mercer Street Sound. Performed as part of Missing Dimension Dusseldorf, Germany, July 1995.

Past Life: White Room

Lying on a white bed in a white room, Hodel remembers what it means to be fourteen years old; she remembers an affair with her mother's boyfriend, and arousal is connected to jealousy, guilt and the complicated relationship between a girl and her mother.

1998, 10 min, Hi-8; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; text: Ursula Hodel; voiceover: Tracy Leipold; editor: Alex Noyes, Mercer Media.

Gap

Hodel sits before the camera dressed in a crisp white T-shirt; she begins to "cut away" at herself with large silver shears. Obviously watching her actions on a playback monitor, Hodel becomes entranced with her own image; several times her cutting comes dangerously close

1998, 10 min, Hi-8, sound; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; editing: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix; postproduction: Mercer Media through The Standby Program.

Makeover

Hodel applies lipstick pigment to her naked body, suggesting cultural identities other than her own. She then rubs the pigment away and dresses herself with lipstick covered rags. Stephen Vitiello's compelling soundtrack intensifies the impression of ritualistic practices.

1998, 11 min, Hi-8, color, sound; Performer/Camera: Ursula Hodel. Editor: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix, Maria Venuto, Mercer Media. Music: Stephen Vitiello.

Amore Amore

Embraced by a fuchsia boa and the Donizetti aria, Hodel looks at her image in a gold mirror. The object of her longing, revealed in short intercut frames, is a masculine silhouette gazing out to sea.

1999, 5:30, digital video; performer: Ursula Hodel; camera and set design: Eva Maria Ovin; editing: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix; music: "Quando, rapita in estasi," from Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, sung by Maria Callas.

Freckles

In this split-screen performance, Hodel paints herself with lipstick, ironically using make-up to transform her appearance. In one image, she applies spots of pigment to her entire body, while in the other she wipes the spots away.

1999, 23 min, Hi-8, color, sound; Performer/Camera: Ursula Hodel. Off-line Editor: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix. On-line Editor: Jim Meigel, Broadway Video. Soundtrack: Stephen Vitiello.

Nine Thousand

Hodel, disguised with a fencing mask, sits on a white bed in a white room, and meticulously counts hundred-dollar bills. This exercise leads to mania when she is compelled to lie on the stacks of money.

1999, 54 min, Hi-8, sound; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; soundmix: Alex Noyes, Mercer Street Sound.

Past Life: Blue Violet

Another exploration in the Past Life series. Hodel recalls a life in Tibet and a love shared with her brother that cannot be matched; they are separated when he joins a monastery and she is left to journey alone. We see Hodel's feet walking on a beach; the water erases her footprints just as the passage of time obscures past events.

1999, 13 min, digital video; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; voiceover/text: Ursula Hodel; soundmix: Alex Noyes, Mercer Street Sound.

Rooms

In Rooms, images of domestic interiors Hodel has visited on her international travels are digitally manipulated, suggesting a visitor's frenetc experience and jumbled memories.

1999, 19:45 min, digital video, color, sound; Performer/Camera: Ursula Hodel. Editor: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix. Music: composed and performed by Ursula Hodel, from the compact disc Bridge to Infinity (© 1990). Soundmix: Alex Noyes, Mercer Street Sound.

Picasso's Model

In this "cubist" portrait, Hodel celebrates the individuality and spirit of a woman known for her fiery red hair and collection of unusual hats.

1999, 2:40 min, digital video, color, sound; Performer: Anna Clivio. Camera: Ursula Hodel. Editor: Robert Beck, Electronic Arts Intermix, Alex Noyes, Mercer Media, Inc.. Music: Stephen Vitiello. Sampled drums: Dean Sharp.

Past Life: Arabian Nights

Hodel adorns herself with jewelry and feathers, as a voiceover recounts the life of a child born to a king, a story likewise adorned with descriptions of precious stones and fine embroidered garments.

1999, 14:09 min, digital video; performer/camera: Ursula Hodel; text: Ursula Hodel; voiceover: Tracy Leipold; editor: Seth Price, Electronic Arts Intermix; music: Maurice Ravel's Bolero performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.

Xmas Tree

During the winter holidays in New York, Park Avenue is lined with trees dressed in white lights. Hodel wraps her body with the same white lights and her superimposed image appears between and atop the trees. The artist's body is allied with the calculated decoration of an urban setting.

1999, 3:34 min, digital video, color, sound; Performer: Ursula Hodel. Camera: Andrea Staka and Ursula Hodel. Soundtrack: Stephen Vitiello. Video editing and compositing: Alex Noyes, Mercer Media, Inc.

Milking the Swiss Cow

Hodel, costumed in haute couture, enters a barn with purpose. Balanced on a milking stool, she desperately massages a cow's udder; her unpracticed hands finding the task difficult. When the cow's tail whips into Hodel's eyes, she weeps. The surreal disjunction of Hodel's extravagant pink bolero (designed by Christian Lacroix) amidst the barn's hay and excrement sets off an outrageous and darkly comic performance.

1999, 13:22 min, digital video, color, sound; Performer: Ursula Hodel with Silvan Gerber Mattli. Camera: Daniela Gerber Mattli and Ursula Hodel. Editor: Seth Price, Electronic Arts Intermix. Assistant: Tracy Leipold.

Eskimo Woman

Hodel camps out in style, inside a white apartment. Her performance of eating and drinking speeds and slows. Eskimo Woman mixes repetition, couture and a powerful soundtrack by Stephen Vitiello.

2000, 15:36 min, color, sound;

Cinderella

Cinderella 2001 is a vibrant performance tape with an unnerving, compulsive narrative concerned with image and obsession. Here Hodel complicates her performance-to-camera work with a developed dramatic structure.

2001, 12 min, color, sound; Camera: Andrea Staka. Editor: Grete Jentzen, Time Zone New York.

Shame on you (24 coats)

Hodel tries on a huge collection of coats, of all varieties and colors, drawing them one after another from a pile on the floor.  Continuing her experiments with pacing and time, Shame on You plays out backwards, which turns the procedure into a mad, stilted dance, all accompanied by eerie drums and bells.

Hodel writes, Shame On You is a video about a woman and her love of beautiful coats. 24 bodybags lying on the floor, a coatrack with 24 black hangers. Under a pile of luxurious coats, Hodel appears; she walks like a magician around the mountain of these coats, one by one they jump from the pile to her and then onto hangers.

2002, 9:53 min, color, sound; Camera: Ursula Hodel. Music: Stephen Vitiello. Editor: Carlton D. Bright/Harvestworks.

O-C-D (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

In this performance tape, Hodel investigates the psychology of desire and narcissism. Accompanied by a soundtrack of her own piano improvisations, Hodel repeatedly emerges from a bathroom and strides toward the camera, each time attired in a different haute-couture outfit.

2002, 9:32 min, color, sound;

FAT (infanta)

Hodel continues her ongoing series of video explorations into notions of beauty, gender, and desire. FAT attacks the issue of weight obsession by taking it to absurdist extremes: Hodel applies massive quantities of lard to her own seated, naked body, sculpting a grotesquely beautiful monument to our cultural fixations.

2003, 17:10 min, color, sound; Camera/Editor: Miguel Abreu.