Untitled (Howl) takes a different approach to the topic of the coping mechanisms we use to survive our quotidian struggles. This work rather relates to Alt’s Untitled (Lady Dee), exploring a highly pragmatic approach towards pornography as a form of a temporary remedy, the same as long-term medication of certain traits of toxic masculinity through a method of projection. In Untitled (Howl), Alt addresses another form of human delegating of our emotional and care labour, this time to pets, in this case specifically dogs. The looped video shows a CGI-rendered dog with the movements and expressions of a drunk human onto which the digital skins have been mapped. The dog either sleeps or howls, representing the on and off cycle of a human being, a worker within capitalism, available or not. The work references the endless streams of cute puppies and kitties constantly filling our social media.

Jen Kratochvil, Floor Is Lava, Kunsthalle Bratislava, 2023