Dávid Brna↓

About the work

Living with the Enemy

The work Living with the Enemy by Dávid Brna employs a story that was presented in the popular documentary series Monsters inside Me. The original revolves around a young financial worker, Wendy, who one day gets an unbearable headache. Many medical examinations reveal a parasite in her body, which prevents her from performing daily activities. After a series of non-invasive treatments, the parasite seems to be defeated – but it is not. We find that it has settled in the brain and cannot be removed. Wendy needs surgery to survive. The goal of the operation is not to get rid of the parasite, but to adjust Wendy’s body so that it can work with the parasite inside.

In the video by Dávid Brna, the two actresses Wendy and Paula talk on the camera in a very stylized environment, which resembles spaces closely linked with neoliberal notions of man – a hospital, a school, and a corporate. There are no boundaries and the individual spaces communicate seamlessly with each other.

Brna took over the story from the series in the form of an audio track, but instead of a medical curiosity, he works with it in the context of a culture of performance. The perspective of the parasite has changed from internal to external, from private to public. The artist pushes the biological aspects of the parasite into the background and focuses on the social and political ones. He asks questions such as “Who’s the parasite here?” “And how do we change so we can live with it?” “Or have we already changed?”