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Een erg leuke en grappige voorstelling! Ik was eerst best zenuwwachtig voor de middelbare, maar nu weet ik dat meer kinderen dat hebben. Ook goede acteurs! Knap hoe zij zo snel verschillende typetjes speelden.

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Een erg leuke en grappige voorstelling! Ik was eerst best zenuwwachtig voor de middelbare, maar nu weet ik dat meer kinderen dat hebben. Ook goede acteurs! Knap hoe zij zo snel verschillende typetjes speelden.

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performance
duration: June 2018 - September 2018
Amsterdam - Moscow - Amsterdam
*Phrase from "Make Way to Winged Eros" by Alexandra Kollontaï

curator Jan van Esch

I take the red curtains out of a building of a former window brothel in the Red Light District in Amsterdam and set them on a journey through different socially acclaimed, international premium cultural environments in Amsterdam and Moscow to get them back to the building of the former brothel. Its interior is most likely to disappear together with the curtains as the building will be passed to a real- estate investor. The brothel has long ago ceased to exist and the building has been expropriated within the municipal program of revitalization of the city.

Operation 1012 is a municipal program which was supposed to focus on rebranding the image of Amsterdam to attract upper-scale cultural tourists, on reduction of criminal activities and on the economic upgrade through gentrification based on public-private partnerships. Although it is celebrated that prostitution is tolerated and socially recognized in the Netherlands, the Operation 1012 regarded it as the main target for displacement from its historical area of De Wallen, which used to be a symbol of tolerance, transparency and freedom known as the Red Light District.

Since 2007 window working places are reduced by third through exchange, sale or expropriation. Most of emptied brothels stand idle for

already ten years. Ineffective and shady as perceived by sex workers, this sanitizing transition in moral geography seems to indicate through political decisions a shift in attitude to sex work from normal as integral part of labor market to as a marginal social activity.

Artists, designers and other creative class actors were invited through different channels to impel the 'sanitization' of the area. This instrumentalization of art was supposed to add value to the 'working class' district and upgrade it from once a space of sin to a place for wealthy, worthy citizens. I was assigned to work in this context as artist in residency supported by AFEW, a local NGO, in order to reflect on the Dutch approach to sex work

​

stage one

​

the former brothel on Saint Anna Street, Amsterdam

stage two

​

Hermitage Museum, Amsterdam

Taking out the curtains

Once used as a tool of communication defined by the architecture of the sex service, the curtains are now not used anymore, they are testimonies of a particular epoch, with the history of private transactions inscribed in them through the public use. Not anymore transgressions between the private and the public, I perceive them as simultaneously a relic of something that is no longer there, and a remnant of something that is not there yet. Due to expropriation during gentrification program, the brothel windows are now covered with 1012 posters, impenetrable for the view from the outside - you can see through them, but you can't be seen. It is not anymore a live communication and a practiced space, but an ambush, a point of control.

I'm sewing the curtains together during a special VIP event in the Hermitage museum, that is a fruit of 2000' optimism in international relations: inaugurated in 2008 by the president of Russia Medvedev together with the Queen of the Netherlands Beatrix it used to be a symbol and celebration of friendship, kinship and belonging.

The sewing is happening in one of the halls of an exhibition "Classic Beauties", a neoclassical collection of masterpieces of a man's gaze on what is the ideal of a woman's beauty. Neoclassical era was particularly fascinated with ruins since Winckelman began to reveal Pompeii in the 18th century. Long thought as invention of the 16th century, the first curtains were discovered at a Pompeii brothel, Grande Lupanare.

stage three

​

RAI conference center, Amsterdam

Attended by 18000 visitors, the AIDS conference at the RAI is where the object was installed in the center of the exhibition hall of the Global Village. A place for cultural exchange, the Global Village showed much diversity and effort to celebrate it. Fighting all kind of stigma was also claimed as one of the goals.

stage four

Museum of Architecture, Moscow

I take the Object to Moscow to show it at the exhibition 'Portal Zaryadye'. It is set to reflect on the recently constructed Park Zaryadye, the newest incorporation to Moscow's central cityscape, touching on the symbolism and mythology of physical landmarks in relation to the Russian public imaginary, contemporary urbanism and shifts in social-political context. The Museum's 'Ruina' building, where the exhibition was held, is symbolic in itself and invites to think about processes of abandonment, displacement, transformations and changing landscapes in relation to power structures.

stage five

Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Moscow

A place of honor, refined protocol and of worldly communication in search for dialog, the Embassy is a portal par excellence. It is here where the Object's transformation is finalized and fully achieved. I pass on the Object to the Embassy, after which the Object travels back to the former brothel in the Red Light District, De Wallen, 1012, Amsterdam.

stage six

Brothel on Saint Anna Street, Amsterdam

After completing all stages of transformation the Object is unsewed. The curtains are hanged back to the building of the former brothel.

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IDEOLOGY OF WORKING CLASS DOESN'T IMPOSE ANY BOUNDARIES ON LOVE

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performance duration: June 2018 - September 2018 Amsterdam - Moscow - Amsterdam *Phrase from "Make Way to Winged Eros" by Alexandra Kollontaï curator Jan van Esch I take the red curtains out of a building of a former window brothel in the Red Light District in Amsterdam and set them on a journey through different socially acclaimed, international premium cultural environments in Amsterdam and Moscow to get them back to the building of the former brothel.

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We think about love as a encaptured and limited version, where we already define what's good or wrong, we are blind because we don't respect freedom of love. Love doesn't know boundaries or belongs to nobody is felt by the most insignificant action to the strangest reaction.

Love is free for everybody to acquire as a feeling and to feel it for anything existent or nonexistent in this world. Love is a big concept that usually is in between of a classic system boundaries.

What we aim with this project is to expand out of this boundaries focusing in Aesthetics and concepts. We will work around limitless possibilities where love will be redefined by every artist.

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We think about love as a encaptured and limited version, where we already define what's good or wrong, we are blind because we don't respect freedom of love. Love doesn't know boundaries or belongs to nobody is felt by the most insignificant action to the strangest reaction.

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The Good Trade editors endorse products we've personally researched, tested, and genuinely love. Learn more about our methodology and business model here.
Style doesn't have a gender-why should it? We know it's possible to reject the framework of binary gender identity, and embrace what we and our communities want to wear without the stigma. We've been seeing a lot of inquiries into gender-neutral and gender-inclusive fashion and wanted to provide a one-stop shop for brands that lie at the intersection of gender inclusion and sustainability.

These 11 values-driven brands are looking out for the planet's wellbeing and belong in everyone's closets. Investing in brands like these helps to support those often overlooked by the mainstream fashion industry. Remember: Wear what you want, advocate for the rights and safety of others to do so, and forget the rest!

1. WILDFANG

WILDFANG started in a studio apartment in Portland, OR by a group of ex-corporate workers tired of asking the same questions about their clothes: Why doesn't this have pockets? Is there a button down that won't give me a boob gap? And why doesn't this have pockets? Their mission is to design clothes that don't conform to gender or stale fashion norms, and they have joined Pledge 1% to give back to good causes. And their super fly, unisex blazers all come with pockets.

2. TomboyX

TomboyX is a sustainable clothing company offering unisex undergarments for all shapes and sizes. These are designs that fit who you are, not who others tell you to be. The gender-inclusive company produces each piece without harmful chemicals, including using a water recycling program for water-based methods. In addition, TomboyX cares for the people along their supply chain by maintaining communication with all suppliers and factories. This brand hopes to change the systems within fashion on all fronts.

3. Big Bud Press

For colors and styles as vibrant as you are, check out Big Bud Press. This LA-based brand creates premium unisex goods from XXS through 6XL, prioritizing local sourcing and ethical manufacturing every step of the way. Because Big Bud's garments are genderless, each size is made to accommodate all body types-if you're not sure where you fall, just reach out. (The jumpsuits are a TGT team favorite!)

4. Riley Studio

Riley Studio is an eco-conscious apparel brand with a mission to do better by the planet and its people. The company prioritizes transparency, providing information on each supplier and factory within its supply chain. In addition, the brand sources recycled and regenerative materials from waste such as recycled polyester, ECONYL® Yarn, and Recover® Yarn. Riley Studio products come with a lifetime warranty for repairs and can take your old pieces to recycle into new ones.

5. Kirrin Finch

Kirrin Finch is a clothing company hoping to "do good in this world." The menswear-inspired brand produces its garments in partnership with fair and ethical factories and boasts close relationships with the people who are making each of its products. Kirrin Finch also utilizes low-impact dyes, all natural fabrics, and organic materials. Their mission is to make dapper style accessible to all, like we all deserve.

6. Origami Customs

Origami Customs is a handmade swimwear and lingerie company specializing in gender-affirming garments. In addition to custom orders (paused during COVID), the brand will alter or cut existing pieces for free for the best fit. With a focus on ethical manufacturing, Origami Customs partners with closed-loop and family-owned partners for deadstock, local, and recycled fabrics-all sewn in-house by a small team and a partner co-op. Find transmasculine, transfeminine & transfemme products, as well as binders, packing bottoms, and gaffs.

7. Olderbrother

Olderbrother is a conscious apparel company focused on keeping clothing natural. From the cultivation of its unique dyes using hibiscus or sustainable wood bark, to its attention to detail around sustainable materials, the brand is a one-of-a-kind ethical fashion shop. The company believes in supporting 'self-definition' and creating garments which can be worn by any body.

8. IJJI

IJJI is a genderless clothing brand based out of California. Since 2016, this fashion-forward brand has focused on natural fibers like wool, silk, cupro, and organic cotton to create beautiful and unique silhouettes. IJJI garments are produced near its local studio so the brand can vet production and ethics regularly. We love that you can filter by your preferred color or fabric!

9. Lonely Kids Club

Lonely Kids Club is a clothing brand that started out as a simple graphic t-shirt company. As the brand has grown, so has the product range. The not-so-small business prides itself on maintaining individuality and humor in its designs, while also touting sustainable and ethical practices. Lonely Kids Club feels passionate about mental health awareness as well as gender inclusivity too, and aims to create a safe space for both.

10. Industry of All Nations

Industry of All Nations wants to not just raise the industry standard but change it altogether. By putting manufacturing at the source of the raw materials (think cotton in the US, alpaca wool in Bolivia, natural dyes in India) they provide opportunities for the workers to grow, breed, and make their goods from start to finish. The brand sees this as a worldwide shift in sustainable industrialization, with the ethical standards of human production at its core. With a commitment to eco-consciousness and minimal waste, this is a company we can get behind. Try their naturally dyed tees or opt for the undyed version for a relaxed, natural vibe that never goes out of style.

11. Official Rebrand

Official Rebrand is a gender-free clothing brand concentrating on artistic exploration and eco-friendly practices. Each piece utilizes pre-worn items to create upcycled garments decorated with painted images of 'sinuous, genderless people, blinded by desire.' All products are one-of-a-kind and many can be customized. Official Rebrand feels strongly about making clothing that rejects societal norms and provides a freedom of expression for whoever decides to wear them.

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11 Gender Neutral Clothing Brands For Genderless Style - The Good Trade

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Isn't it time fashion extends beyond the limits of the binary? These sustainable brands are making clothing fit for every wardrobe.

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Shay Alexi Stewart - Song of the Prettybird

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The Non Boundaries of Love is collaborative project with Andrei Warren as a creative director where Uno.Tisto, Axonbody, Saradibiza, Elezetate, Goretex Dealer and Andrei Warren enter into dialogue with each other, to bring out new forms of artistic interpretation and experience of the concept of <<love>>.

The curatorial concept of this exhibition revolves around love and its (non) boundaries in the current digital world. As Andrei Warren states:
"We think about love as an encaptured and limited version, where we already define what's good or wrong, we are blind because we don't respect freedom of love. Love doesn't know about boundaries or belongs to nobody; it is felt by the most insignificant action to the strangest reaction. Love is free for everybody to acquire as a feeling and to feel it for anything existent or nonexistent in this world. Love is a big concept that usually is in between classic system boundaries. What we aim with this project is to expand out of this boundaries focusing in Aesthetics and concepts. We will work around limitless possibilities where love will be redefined by every artist".

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The Non Boundaries of Love is collaborative project with Andrei Warren as a creative director where Uno.Tisto, Axonbody, Saradibiza, Elezetate, Goretex Dealer and Andrei Warren enter into dialogue with each other, to bring out new forms of artistic interpretation and experience of the concept of >.

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Disidentifications

"No Femmes. No Fats." When I started making profiles on gay dating/hookup apps as a teenager, this is a phrase I came across frequently, which set precedent that defined me as unwelcome. As a queer person with a non-normative body and an invisible disability, I have experienced constant rejection from members of my fellow gay community, forcing me into a precarious relationship with myself.

Disidentifications is a series of absurd, unusual, uncanny, and playful portraits of queer individuals. Named after the theory of disidentification as described by queer theorist José Muñoz, this series examines the liminality of disidentities that neither identify or counter-identify with a dominant ideology. The playful and performative acts and symbols in these photographs reflect the uneasy relationship I've developed with myself, while the fragmented narratives and uncertainty that exist in a space between reality and fantasy reflect the transitional space of queer identity.

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Disidentifications - Jesse Egner - Artist and Photographer

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Disidentifications"No Femmes. No Fats." When I started making profiles on gay dating/hookup apps as a teenager, this is a phrase I came across frequently, which set precedent that defined me as unwelcome. As a queer person with a non-normative body and an invisible disability, I have experienced constant rejection from members of my fellow gay community, forcing me into a precarious relationship with myself.

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https://j-o-y-c-e.com/nl/portfolio/the-gaze/

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Boven: een foto genomen tijdens de performance op het Unnoticed Art Festival, 2016. Credits: Petra Laaper

The Gaze is een serie performances in Den Haag en Nijmegen, waarin wordt onderzocht wat er gebeurt als ongeschreven sociale regels overboord worden gegooid. In dit project werden de effecten en ongeschreven regels rondom het staren onderzocht; in Nederland is het min of meer sociaal geaccepteerd om mensen aan te kijken tot het moment dat ze je opmerken, vanaf dat moment wordt het staren gezien als iets zeer ongepasts.

The Gaze was onderdeel van het Unnoticed Art Festival 2016. De voorstellingen werden mogelijk gemaakt met steun van het Mondriaan Fonds.

Speciale dank gaat uit naar de performers van beide series in Nijmegen en Den Haag: Sarah Atzori, Vincent Baeza Parra, Eliot Bowe, Ken Bridgen, Mandy Chaigneau, Marisa Conde, Giovanni Maisto Ferreira, Jolanda Jansen, Jowi Kemper, Petra Laaper, Andrew McNiven, Heekyung Ryu, Ilona Schipper, Jelle Schroor, Alessandro Sposetti, Michiel Tollig, Ieke Trinks, Herwin Zweers.

Onder: één van de gedocumenteerde voorstellingen uit de serie, uitgevoerd in Den Haag. In totaal zijn er drie documentatievideo's gemaakt.

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Series of manipulative performances for 'Unnoticed Art Festival', 2016

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https://huismarseille.nl/tentoonstellingen/danh-vo/

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De foto's in de serie Archive of Dr. Joseph M. Carrier 1962-1973 van de toonaangevende kunstenaar Danh Vo (1975, Bà Ria) zijn niet door de kunstenaar zelf gemaakt. Het is Vo's selectie uit het fotoarchief van de Amerikaanse antropoloog Joseph Michel Carrier, die van 1962 tot 1973 als anti-guerillaspecialist in Vietnam was gestationeerd. In 2010 bracht Vo deze serie als editie uit als fotogravure, in samenwerking met meesterdrukker Niels Borch Jensen, die deze 19e-eeuwse diepdruktechniek nieuw leven ingeblazen had. De zachte zwarttinten die eigen zijn aan deze techniek dragen bij aan de intieme sfeer van de interacties tussen de jongemannen die Carrier had vastgelegd.
Terloopse intieme interacties

Toen Vo in 2006 een lezing hield voor een artist-in-residency in Los Angeles zat Carrier in het publiek. Na afloop ging hij naar Vo toe. 'Ik stond oog in oog met iemand die de hele oorlog in Vietnam had gewerkt én homoseksueel was. Over die combinatie had ik nog nooit nagedacht,' herinnert Vo zich. Zijn interesse was gewekt en de twee raakten bevriend.

Tijdens een gezamenlijke trip naar Vietnam vertelde Carrier dat hij in 1962 in Vietnam voor het eerst geconfronteerd werd met jongens en mannen die publiekelijk elkaars hand vasthielden - iets wat hij onmogelijk achtte in de conservatieve Amerikaanse gemeenschap waarin hijzelf was opgegroeid. Hij ervoer het als een bevrijding en besloot die momenten te gaan vastleggen. De interacties die Carrier zag waren intiem, maar in de Vietnamese context niet noodzakelijk homo-erotisch. Vo: 'Het is een andere vorm van mannelijke intimiteit: het tekent juist een hypermasculiene samenleving dat de gedachte aan homoseksualiteit niet eens opkomt.'

Toe-eigening van het fotoarchief

Weer thuis na hun reis toonde Carrier zijn foto's aan een ontroerde Vo. In 1979, als vierjarige, was Vo met zijn familie Zuid-Vietnam ontvlucht in een zelfgemaakte boot. Ze werden gered door een Deens vrachtschip en Vo zou de rest van zijn jeugd in Denemarken doorbrengen. Carriers foto's documenteren dus een verleden en een cultuur die hij als de zijne herkende, maar nooit aan den lijve heeft kunnen ondervinden. 'En het waren ook nog eens prachtige foto's.'

In 2007 gaf Carrier zijn negatieven aan Vo met de toestemming om de foto's te tonen in een tentoonstelling. Rond die tijd nam Vo contact op met meesterdrukker Niels Borch Jensen, die sinds de jaren '90 de 19e-eeuwse druktechniek van de fotogravure nieuw leven ingeblazen had. Geïnspireerd door de manier waarop je de uitstraling van een afdruk kunt manipuleren door verschillende inktmengsels te gebruiken, werden Carriers foto's als fotogravures uitgebracht. Deze drukken hebben herkenbare fluwelige zwarttinten met een licht korrelige structuur. Het geeft Carriers portretten een toepasselijke zachtheid.

Zelf staat Vo bekend om zijn conceptuele installaties, sculpturen en performances - niet noodzakelijkerwijs om fotografie. Toch past dit werk goed in zijn oeuvre waarin - ingegeven door zijn eigen ervaringen als immigrant - kwesties van integratie en identiteit de boventoon voeren. Met het presenteren en zich toe-eigenen van foto's van zijn vaderland die nog voor zijn geboorte zijn genomen door een Amerikaan, maakt Vo een statement over de collectieve geschiedenis die deel uitmaakt van je identiteit. Vo weigert zich te onderwerpen aan het geconstrueerde onderscheid tussen wat publiek en persoonlijk is, en verzette zich meermaals tegen het idee dat hij persoonlijke kunst zou maken. Vo beschouwt Archive of Dr. Joseph M. Carrier 1962-1973 nog altijd als een sleutelwerk in zijn oeuvre: 'Het zette een nieuwe standaard voor toekomstige werken. Het was niet iets dat ik in een studio had uitgedacht. Het werk kwam naar me toe, denk ik.'

Danh Vo (1975, Bà Rịa) werd geboren in Vietnam, groeide op in Denemarken en woont en werkt tegenwoordig in Berlijn en Mexico-Stad. Hij is een van de bekendste uit Vietnam afkomstige kunstenaars. Zijn werk wordt internationaal getoond, onder meer in Museum Ludwig in Keulen, het Art Institute of Chicago, de Kunsthalle Basel en het Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In 2012 ontving hij de prestigieuze Hugo Boss-prijs, waar een solotentoonstelling in het Guggenheim in New York uit volgde, en in 2015 vertegenwoordigde hij Denemarken op de Biënnale van Venetië.

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De foto's in de serie Archive of Dr. Joseph M. Carrier 1962-1973 van de toonaangevende kunstenaar Danh Vo (1975, Bà Ria) zijn niet door de kunstenaar zelf gemaakt. Het is Vo's selectie uit het fotoarchief van de Amerikaanse antropoloog Joseph Michel Carrier, die van 1962 tot 1973 als anti-guerillaspecialist in Vietnam was gestationeerd.

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https://purplehazemag.com/2021/02/21/body-positivity-at-haze-gallery/

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On February 27, HAZEGALLERY Berlin will host the opening of the BODY - POSITIVITY international exhibition, which will be held as part of the PURPLEHAZE MAGAZINE anniversary 005 issue launch.

The exposition will include works by contemporary artists from Europe, made in different media: graphics, installation, video and photography. The initiator of the exhibition project, which will become a platform for dialogue between authors from different art schools and cultural spaces, was the independent art community.

Curator Iren Russo
Assistant Sasha Grigg

The BODY - POSITIVITY exhibition reveals the topic of finding one's own identity through the collected and reworked experience. Whether it's the personal experience of the author or the experience of an entire generation. An attempt to find the constituent elements within and outside of oneself. Go beyond the limits of your understanding by changing the point of perception in order to find a different entrance to the existing reality. Put together separate pieces and find integrity. Collecting artifacts of the surrounding reality into objects and compositions, artists grope the way to their mosaic individuality and reflect on the problem of self-determination through interaction with real space in this multi-layered information-chaotic world.

The exhibition will feature works created in different genres, which tell about the search by modern man for the moment of harmony of the inner world and the endless chaos of events outside of it.

Opening | February 27, 2021 at 18:00.
Free admission | 16+
Exhibition Dates | February 27, 2021 - March 13, 2021
Working hours | by appointment
Contacts | haze.gallery

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"BODY - POSITIVITY" at HAZE GALLERY | Purplehazemag

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"BODY - POSITIVITY" at HAZE GALLERY, exhibition, photography, artists, art

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https://helmut-newton-foundation.org/en/ausstellungen/body-performance/

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Performance is an independent art form and photography is its constant companion.

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Walt Disney's 1946 re-discovered animation explaining the physiology of menstruation. 

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Walt Disney's 1946 re-discovered animation explaining the physiology of menstruation. 

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http://malafemminista.com/blog/mother-art-monday-rineke-dijkstra

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https://flash---art.com/article/judy-chicago-birth-project/

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https://www.instagram.com/thesmellofsleep/

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https://www.demorgen.be/tv-cultuur/het-omgekeerde-naakt-van-fotograaf-yushi-li-mijn-foto-s-zijn-mijn-fantasieen-ik-druk-uit-wat-ik-verlang~b2a7da85/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

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photographer daniel obasi explores the taboo of gender fluidity in nigeria

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The artist captures the nonconformist youth of his native Lagos through an Afrofuturist lens.

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https://www.instagram.com/alphachanneling/

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https://lucyli.studio

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CkKbKH1Da_b/

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Pride Photo Award is an annual international photo contest for photos about sexual and gender diversity

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FAQs

How long are the plays?
Part One: Millennium Approaches is 3 hours and 30 minutes with two 15 minute intervals.
Part Two: Perestroika is 4 hours with two 15 minute intervals.

How much do tickets cost?
Monday - Thursday evenings and all matinees
£65, £60, £52, £41, £29, £15

Friday and Saturday evenings
£65, £56, £46, £31, £18

Previews Part One 11, 12 Apr; Part Two 24, 25 Apr:
£39, £32, £25, £20, £15
All other Previews:
£45, £36, £27, £22, £15

Two-Play: combined ticket days*
Weekdays: £130, £120, £104, £82, £58, £30
Saturday: £130, £125, £108, £87, £60, £33
Preview Saturday 29 April: £90, £72, £54, £44, £30

*On Two-Play: combined ticket days, tickets are only available as a combined ticket to attend both Part One at 1pm and Part Two at 7pm.

Concessions
Under-18s
Half price for Monday - Friday evenings and all matinees. Excludes tickets under £32.
Senior Citizens
For midweek matinees save £20 on £52 and £41 tickets, or save £10 on £60 tickets.

Disabled People
£16 tickets, plus £16 companion tickets are available for Access list subscribers. Find out about the Access List

UK schools, colleges and universities
Under-19s, £12 and 19 - 25s, £15, for groups of 10+ on selected performances.

Why are there two parts?
Part One: Millennium Approaches was first performed in 1990 and was followed by Part Two: Perestroika in 1992.
In this new staging, Part One presents half of the story and you won't get the full experience without seeing how it ends. Part Two picks up the story and characters, and may be hard to follow without having seen Part One.

Where can I see the full performance schedule?
Click to view a PDF of the schedule.

What is a two-play day?
A two-play day is when Part One is played as a matinee followed by an evening performance of Part Two on the same day. On two-play days with a combined ticket you will have the same seat for both plays.

Are there Access performances?
Yes, see dates and times below.
Part One: Millennium Approaches
Captioned performances:
Mon 12 June, 7pm
Sat 1 July, 1pm
Wed 12 July, 1pm
Wed 19 July, 7pm
Audio-described performances:
Sat 15 July, 1pm
Mon 17 July, 7pm

Part 2: Perestroika
Captioned performances:
Sat 1 July, 7pm
Tue 25 July, 7pm
Thu 10 Aug, 1pm
Wed 16 Aug, 7pm
Audio-described performances:
Sat 5 Aug, 7pm
Mon 7 Aug, 7pm

Is Angels in America suitable for young people?
The plays contain strong language and adult themes.

How many tickets can I buy?
There will be a limit of two tickets per customer for Part One and two tickets per customer for Part Two. Or on two-play days you can buy a pair of combined tickets to see both Part One and Part Two on the same day.

When will I get my tickets?
If you choose to have your tickets posted, they will be sent out two to four weeks ahead of the performance. Otherwise, you can collect your tickets from the National Theatre Box Office on the day of the performance. Please note the credit or debit card that you used to purchase your ticket will be required as proof of purchase when collecting tickets.

Can I buy my tickets from somewhere other than the National Theatre?
All tickets must be purchased directly from the National Theatre. The re-sale of tickets is strictly prohibited and we reserve the right to refuse admission to customers with tickets purchased on re-sale websites.

Can I return my tickets? Will I get a refund?
National Theatre tickets are non-refundable. We can, however, exchange the tickets for a credit voucher as long as we receive the tickets at least 24 hours before the performance (seven days for group bookings). There is an administration fee of £2 per ticket.
To return tickets, please contact the Box Office by completing our returns form online, or by calling 020 7452 3000.

What if I've bought a ticket but am not the one attending?
If you bought tickets as a gift or can no longer go to the performance, we can transfer tickets to a friend or relative. However, there will be some security details that we need to check with you before we can do this - please contact the Box Office here and we will then contact you to verify your booking details.

Is the cast the same for both parts?
Yes - the cast is the same for both Part One and Part Two.

Can I get food and drink before, during or after the shows?
Food and drink can be found in restaurants, cafés and bars throughout the building, most with al-fresco seating overlooking the vibrant South Bank. A special Angels in America menu will be available to pre-book on two-play days in House and Terrace restaurants, so you can enjoy a meal in between shows or brunch before the performances begin. Find out more about Angels in America meal packages.

When will Angels in America be broadcast by NT Live?
Part One: Millennium Approaches will be broadcast live to cinemas on 20 July.
Part Two: Perestroika will be broadcast live to cinemas on 27 July.
Encores of both parts will be in selected cinemas from 4 August.
Sign up to NT Live's newsletter to be among the first to know details of when tickets go on sale for screenings.

Angels Ballot presented by Delta
Hundreds of £20 tickets will be regularly released in a ballot. Click here for details.

Friday Rush
Angels in America Part One and Part Two will not be included in Friday Rush, but we will be operating an Angels ballot presented by Delta, where you'll be in with a chance of accessing up to two tickets for each part, from a special allocation of £20 tickets per performance. See above for how to enter.

Day Tickets
On the day of the performance, twenty £15/£18 Day Tickets are available in person at 9.30am from the ground floor box office. Limited to two per customer.

Day Tickets on two-play days cost £30/£33 and are only available as a combined ticket to attend both Part One and Part Two.

Bag policy at the NT
For the safety and comfort of all of patrons, rucksacks and large bags (bigger than a small under-the-shoulder handbag or messenger bag) are not permitted into the auditoriums. Coats and bags can be stored in one of our free cloakrooms.

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How long are the plays? Part One: Millennium Approaches is 3 hours and 30 minutes with two 15 minute intervals. Part Two: Perestroika is 4 hours with two 15 minute intervals. How much do tickets cost?

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https://www.instagram.com/alphachanneling/

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https://www.ignant.com/2014/04/16/🤬-for-the-whole-family/

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Brian Steinhoff created the series 'Porn for the Whole Family' which combines the most banal of interior decor with the most (at least, allegedly) provocative of subject matter: sex. The series features pornographic scenarios plopped in domestic settings, yet all human forms have been replaced by floral patterns normally reserved for wallpapers.
With his photography, Brian Steinhoff aims to comment the 'banality of perversion' and the ever-growing accessibility of ocular carnage that flows freely amongst the tides of a (seemingly) free internet. If you enjoy this, you may also like Porn without Porn.
All images © Brian Steinhoff | Via: Huffingtonpost

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Brian Steinhoff created the series 'Porn for the Whole Family' which combines the most banal of interior decor with the most (at least, allegedly) provocative of subject matter: sex. The series features pornographic scenarios plopped in domestic settings, yet all human forms have been replaced by floral patterns normally reserved for wallpapers.

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https://www.designboom.com/architecture/shapes-six-n-five-isern-serra-moco-barcelona-concept-store-10-26-2022/

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designboom | architecture & design magazine

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Moco Concept Store by Six N. Five

Stepping out of the digital world for a moment, Six N. Five has announced the completion of the Moco Concept Store, a permanent physical space designed for the Moco Museum in Barcelona. The project is the real implementation of an existing virtual concept designed by the creative studio who is also the winner of THE DESIGN PRIZE 2021 in the 'Communication' category. Realized in collaboration with interior designer Isern Serra, the space generates an immersive environment that celebrates artistic activity through a carefully selected collection of sustainable products and limited edition works by modern and contemporary creatives.

Moco Concept Store is a permanent physical space designed for the Moco Museum in Barcelona

all images courtesy of Salva Lopez

Subtle pink hues and curvaceous shapes

Six N. Five is known for using digital tools and CGI to create minimal, surreal, and tranquil environments, pastel dreamscapes, and vivid, unthinkable architectures that allude to the endless possibilities of the ever-evolving digital tools. The museum has entrusted its new space to the Barcelona-based art studio to pursue the concept of exploring the most modern and innovative forms of artistic expression. 'Through creativity, we can shape a new reality. We are all co-creators of this new world' Moco shares.

The concept was to build a dedicated commercial space that embodies the museum's mission: to be inclusive, enlightening, inspiring, and empowering while making art accessible to all. Soft pink hues and curved shapes permeate the interior, marking the signature stylistic features of the studio's CGI dreamscapes. Six N. Five collaborated with Isern Serra to transform these digital creations and components into a tangible reality, a world of experience that is both real and unreal.

'When you're challenged to explore the unknown and things that have never been done before - you're moved to do what has not been done before', Six N. Five explain. 'One of the things that thrills me the most is being able to create new spaces and experiences through images, videos, and virtual reality that allow us to imagine something different from what we are used to. The Moco Concept Store represented an interesting challenge, as I had to combine the purpose of the store with actual architecture remaining true to our original dreamy world I had built in CGI, but these concepts were able to go one level further, both in decisions and execution, thanks to Isern Serra who brought his extraordinary talent and experience'.

the space presents itself as an immersive all-pink environment that celebrates artistic activity

soft pink hues and curved shapes permeate the interior

the space bears the signature stylistic features of the studio's CGI dreamscapes

the commercial space that embodies the museum's mission: to be inclusive, and empowering while making art accessible to all

the resulting design generates a world of experience that is both real and unreal
project info:

GROHE SPA crafts a water sanctuary at palazzo reale during milan design week 2024

interview: GROHE SPA blends water, nature and architecture in bathroom designs

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pink hues and organic shapes permeate six n. five's moco museum concept store in barcelona

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six n. five has designed the moco concept store, a physical, permanent physical space for the moco museum in barcelona.

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https://www.artforum.com/picks/kristi-cavataro-89283

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https://aestheticamagazine.com/a-sense-of-kinship/

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In 1987, James Baldwin wrote about America's need to "exorcise" itself from sin: human sexuality became the prime target for the violent insecurity of the "mob", which killed members of the LGBTQ+ community just as it persecuted African Americans. In D'Angelo Lovell Williams' Contact High, the transgression, eroticism and weight of skin and flesh are shown, providing a canvas for desire, the beauty and violence of familial relationships, and the everyday corporeal existence of Black queer people.

These stunning images offer a sense of catharsis for Williams' lived experiences as a queer Black HIV-positive artist from the south. Often appearing as the subject within the images, Williams bears witness to the arid, sweltering world of their artwork, where lovers touch openly, nudity is a condition for existence, and the pain and pressure exerted on the physical body reveal what it means to be alive. Human touch, and all its ensuing wonder, pervade Williams' photographs, showing the inherent, complicated beauty of intimate relationships: whether it is a figure lying face-down on their lover, or resting their head in the lap of their mother - a red line connecting parent and child, an extended umbilical cord.

Williams does not shy away from the danger and hope of human connection, and the possibilities of self-annihilation are, ultimately, embodied within love. The body is a site of pain, passion and the tear-filled vulnerability of caring for someone beyond yourself. By looking at themselves and the people in their lives so directly, Williams shows the viewer the simultaneous risk and beauty of being alive. Love, after all, has never been an easy thing to master, much less in a culture driven by profit, but Williams tries: and their work resonates because of it.

mackbooks.co.uk | Words: Iman Sultan
Image Credits:
1. D'Angelo Lovell Williams, 'Rosebed, 2017', from Contact High (MACK, 2022). Courtesy of the artist and MACK.
2. D'Angelo Lovell Williams, 'The Lovers, 2017', from Contact High (MACK, 2022). Courtesy of the artist and MACK.
3. D'Angelo Lovell Williams, 'Fleurish, 2016', from Contact High (MACK, 2022). Courtesy of the artist and MACK.
Posted on 29 September 2022

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Aesthetica Magazine - A Sense of Kinship

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Human touch, and all its wonder, pervade D'Angelo Lovell Williams' photographs, showing the inherent, complicated beauty of intimate relationships.

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https://www.artforum.com/print/reviews/202204/vaginal-davis-88132

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Vaginal Davis is one of those artists whose relationship with the art world seems to have ebbed and flowed over the years. Perhaps this is because the work of the…

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Between 2021 and 2022 I kept running into DeSe Escobar. It was always during some art event, just before the celebratory party. I am speaking in the first person, but it doesn't matter who I am. I am the anonymous "kitri eye," a regular visitor to the art world interested in the dynamics of this system, which often develop outside designated spaces and vaporize in the post-opening clubs.

In all her Los Angeles glam grace, Escobar always escapes before the end of a dinner party in order to prepare for the evening, at the console - just like that night in Geneva.

It's hard to tell who DeSe Escobar is, but I'll try to tell you. She was born and raised in Los Angeles by immigrant Filipino parents. After studying fashion design at Otis College of Art and Design, Escobar moved to New York and began working in fashion as an assistant designer. While fashion design has had an enduring influence on her practice, she quickly felt stifled by working within the confines of corporate fashion. In search of a more fulfilling relationship between art and fashion, nightlife became an outlet for the artist. She was quickly welcomed by veteran underground musician/rapper Dosha - the House of Ladosha's de facto mother. The House is an art collective of like-minded queer artists, musicians, and DJs whose broad range of work has profoundly influenced New York's nightlife underground and art scene. Being received with devotion, respect, and friendship by this likeminded cadre allowed her to explore herself while establishing a consistent art practice, beginning in drawing, then moving into more conceptual themes such as pop imagery within installations. She began crafting social spaces with performative elements and inspiring cultural mementos as an investigation of art.

Escobar holds firmly to her roots in fashion illustration. Her drawings recall those of Jackie Doyle, whose illustrated works date back to the 1960s and are known for their quick, minimal strokes of shading finished with an elegant line. Early forays into fine art were deeply informed by her experience of studying illustration with Doyle and her interest in garments. She had her first solo show, "Treat me like somebody," in 2014 at Bed-Stuy Love Affair, Jared Madere's project space. Continuing to exhibit her work and participate in her newfound social milieu led to the establishment of a globally recognized multidisciplinary art practice. Escobar works to dismiss the unspoken boundaries that separate contemporary fine art spaces from underground nightlife spaces. Her inspirations include her experience as a reflective California teenager, her perceptions of glamour, and her ongoing obsessions with fashion, nightlife, and, above all, music.

kitry eye: How did Club Glam come about?
Dese Escobar: While nightlife and club culture are recurring themes through my practice, this influence was born through necessity. Like many who came to New York before me, underground nightlife spaces were essential for me to make ends meet as a young artist living in downtown Manhattan. As a new transplant and creative, these environments allowed me to pay rent and find a concrete art practice. Club Glam, a monthly club night, had its inaugural party in May of 2016 at China Chalet, the now-defunct Chinese restaurant that turned into an event space after hours, located in the heart of the Financial District in downtown Manhattan. After more than half a decade of navigating New York's underground, the venue presented itself as an ideal space for young creatives to mingle over drinks, smoke cigarettes at the front-of-house restaurant seating, and then make their way through the long, mirrored hallway to the ballroom. There, myself and other DJs would offer a soundtrack for a wall-to-wall sea of friends and patrons to dance to, offering an outlet for unbridled freedom of expression. This party gave life to many romances, hook-ups, networking opportunities, and it hosted a new era of fashion designers that changed the New York fashion scene. Independent New York Designers I admire such as Area, Anna Bolina, Gauntlett Cheng, Luar, Telfar, and Vaquera played an important role in the evolution of Club Glam, and I am forever grateful for their ongoing support, not to mention the many artists and galleries who hosted many evenings at Club Glam. By keeping the image of Club Glam fresh and interesting I wanted to take the playful current that runs through my art practice and apply it to the club night's promotion. The work I've done with many collaborators transcends the conventional promotional party flyer. I collaborated with other artists and videographers on "Glampaigns," inspired by fashion video ads. These were my playful touch on video promotions to post on Instagram to build excitement for the night of the party. Club Glam ran for four years at China Chalet before the space unfortunately closed its doors due to the onset of the COVID pandemic, and made its return earlier this year in April after testing the waters with a new Manhattan venue I was tipped off about by my go-to sound producer Carlton. With intentions of bringing the spirit of Club Glam to other cities, I hope to host the event in various locations worldwide. Opportunities like these make me interested in taking on more chances to provide event planning and promotion for the fashion and art worlds after a decade of experience under my belt.

ke: How has your art practice been shaped by fashion studies?
DE: Through my studies in fashion, illustration and draping in particular have become techniques that have greatly informed my art practice. While fashion was transitioning into the digital landscape, where handcrafted approaches to quality became useless in the eyes of the commercial fashion industry, I made the decision to leave my job in fashion design and channel these techniques I'd cultivated from that world into a formal art practice that began with drawing, and now encompasses video, music, sculpture, and various other forms of media. Aside from the artisanship of fashion illustration and draping, my reverence for fashion is largely due to its capacity to function as a mode of storytelling, and what a designer wishes to express beyond the garments themselves as they appear on the catwalk. Telling a story through visual communication, both in fashion collections as well as everyday styling, has been a constant source of inspiration for me since childhood. My work aims to transcend the visual aspect of fashion, and my intentions are always to establish a particular feeling, while exploring the relationship between fashion and art, and how these two worlds can mutually influence one another.
Archiving and preservation of specific designer or vintage clothing have also become important sources of inspiration for me. After wearing a garment many nights out on the town, they hold moments and memories that give life as an archived object instead of a commodity or product. This has been pivotal in bridging these two worlds. A recent work I submitted to a group show at the Anat Ebgi Gallery in Los Angeles, curated by James Bartolacci and Stefano di Paola, stems from that concept. It's a seafoam green off-the- shoulder dress with a silk chiffon cape that dragged around the slushy streets of a 2013 snow storm and the dirty floors of a Brooklyn DIY warehouse venue, and I hope that audiences can feel the intimacy of experience through the state of the garment. It also feels like a vestige of an era of New York that no longer exists now that all of these neighborhoods and DIY spaces have been gentrified and shut down.

ke: The world of the night, the club, has a special fascination that inevitably spills over into your practice. How do these two dimensions coexist - the night and the day, the ephemeral life of the DJ set, and that of the work itself, made of matter, of process?
DE: I simply feel safer at night in a club than I do during the day, because I feel I walking around in the day with the general public you might find yourself in a situation where you might have to put your guard up . In nightlife spaces, I choose the music for my DJ sets almost as if I were making something like a mixtape, something that is both deeply personal but also resonates with others. Like my work, the music always needs to be very playful. Nightlife can be unexpected in the most inspirational and exciting ways. I think of my role in nightlife as more curatorial. It's about bringing communities together from disparate scenes or parts of the city. The spaces the events take place in become a stage for performance in the mode of experimental theater that can only be experienced in that moment. The building of community and nourishing new relationships gives way to the process of how I approach my art. Through nightlife, I have discovered a multidisciplinary style that incorporates various forms of media. In a solo exhibition curated by Jonas Wendelin and Maurin Dietrich at Fragile in Berlin, I staged a Los Angeles Airbnb scenario. At the beginning of the opening, viewers were invited to experience the narrative of three newly single New York City influencers who check into a Venice Beach Airbnb apartment where suitcases are left open, the television playing music videos on YouTube in one room and in another room a bathtub is filled with pink water. The scene portrays the girls getting ready for their night out, but the makeup wipes surrounding the bathtub with the runs of mascara raise questions about how their night ended. Was it a good night, or are they still mourning their recent breakup? The show went on until 4:00 a.m., which took the viewers from the beginning of the night to an afterparty experience where viewers got to participate in the enjoyment of a house party full of strangers and loud music which is typical the Los Angeles party style I experienced in my teenage years. I've always been fascinated with the idea of a walkthrough in a gallery space, because I loved how Universal Studios Hollywood would always host their annual haunted maze Halloween attractions with each having a different theme. In the future I would love to do similar installations, with all the elements of sound design and experimental theater, in foreign cities around the world. I would incorporate specific memories of Club Glam, or other parts of New York City streets that I frequent at night. I take pride in throwing events because I get to stage these kinds of installations in real life, and the people who attend often don't realize that they are active participants in the performance. Matter is made in another practice I've recently started during the pandemic which consists of archived images I've saved of snapshots of night's out. These are printed on translucent vellum, then submerged in hot cooking oil, similar to how my family would deep fry eggrolls, and then are coated with a clear resin which allows these images to take on a new life as a hard sculpture.

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Nightlife, Glamour, Art. DeSe Escobar | | Flash Art

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Between 2021 and 2022 I kept running into DeSe Escobar. It was always during some art event, just before the celebratory party. I am speaking in the first person, but it doesn't matter who I am.

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https://www.designboom.com/architecture/baths-for-queer-defense-architecture-of-inclusivity-puerto-rico-06-09-2020/

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https://www.ignant.com/2015/02/11/sex-and-takeout-by-sarah-bahbah/

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Australian photographer Sarah Bahbah created the series 'Sex and Takeout', capturing naked people with various kinds of food. The food items are mostly used as props to cover up their naughty bits, sometimes they are just lying around while a couple is fooling around next to them. You can see much more of the series on her Instagram or by following the tagg #sexandtakeout.
All images © Sarah Bahbah | Via: Designtaxi

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Sex and Takeout by Sarah Bahbah - IGNANT

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Australian photographer Sarah Bahbah created the series 'Sex and Takeout', capturing naked people with various kinds of food. The food items are mostly used as props to cover up their naughty bits, sometimes they are just lying around while a couple is fooling around next to them.

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https://www.artforum.com/picks/ybna-al3eid-89403

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https://www.artforum.com/print/reviews/202208/joan-snyder-89335

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Joan Snyder’s abstractions, bold and delirious responses to nature, are imbued with intense feeling. Take Symphony of Pain and Joy, 2022&#—one of the seven canvases in “To Become a Painting,”…

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https://www.artpapers.org/wendyjacob/

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Rethinking Sensory Dimensions - Art Papers

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An interview with artist Wendy Jacob about how her investigation of tactility brought her to work with communities of disabled people.

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The desire to capture aspects of existence - to record glimpses of collective humanity - can be traced back over 45,000 years. The earliest examples of representational art are etched onto cave walls. Philosopher Alain de Botton stated in The Art of Travel that images "represent a choice as to which features of reality should be given prominence." In The Intimacy of Distance, 17 artists with diverse backgrounds and practices illustrate the central relationship between the human subject and the land.

Curators Lawrence Gipe and Douglas Marshall have collated a body of work that interrogates the "myriad psychological effects" produced by these interactions, from self-portraits to vast landscapes where humanity's presence permeates in cityscapes and modern technologies.

The relationships range from symbiotic to exploitative: shadowed figures fade into monochromatic backdrops and bright anthropomorphic forms contrast against natural scenes. Liz Miller-Kovacs uses full-body neon stockings to illuminate the human silhouette against a salt evaporation canal, portraying society's responsibility for ecological damage.

Alongside conceptual issues of environmentalism and colonialism, the exhibition surveys how composition can distort the dynamic between the body and its landscape. Johnnie Chatman (b. 1990) becomes a mimicry of his view, standing resolute amongst vast, towering peaks. Rania Matar (b. 1964) highlights a face in reflection, concealing Beirut's destruction. This asks the question: can photographers ever capture the whole? The Intimacy of Distance proposes answers in its interpretation of the everyday.

marshallgallery.art | Until 19 November
Image Credits:
1. Rania Matar, Alae (With Mirror), 2020
2. Johnnie Chatman, Self Portrait, John Ford Point, 2018.
3. Liz Miller-Kovacs, Amboy Effigy, 2020.
Posted on 17 October 2022

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Aesthetica Magazine - Intimacy of Distance

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The desire to capture aspects of existence - to record glimpses of collective humanity - can be traced back over 45,000 years. The earliest examples of representational art are etched onto cave walls. Philosopher Alain de Botton stated in The Art of Travel that images "represent a choice as to which features of reality should be given prominence."

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https://www.nowness.com/story/my-body-is-a-sculpture-anest-collective

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https://flash---art.com/article/between-seeing-and-touching/

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Sadie Benning's early black-and-white videos convey the familiar postadolescent restlessness and ennui experienced by teenagers when confined to the banal spaces of domesticity and the solitude of the bedroom. Made between 1989 and 1992, when Benning was only fifteen years old, the poignant narratives are part diary and part performance: communicated through direct address, disembodied voice-overs and handwritten messages on tiny scraps of paper. Scenes are composed of household objects, everyday knickknacks and toys immediately at hand - small, sculptural tableaus interspersed with Benning's own image: close-up shots of the artist's eyes, lips and other parts of her body. Notably shot on a Fisher Price Pixelvision camcorder, the black-bordered images are characteristically grainy and raw, with a shallow depth of field that presents the picture in stark, graphic contrast or runny grays depending on the distance of the lens from the object being recorded. When captured by the crude cassette-tape stock of the Pixelvision camcorder, the most banal forms and spaces - a Venetian blind, a bedroom corner, an empty sofa - are rendered strangely palpable and amorphously distant. Like invisible ink, the images appear in a state of perpetual evaporation. Today such "experimental" aesthetic qualities manifest as analog nostalgia, in the superficial filters and layers that easily slide onto so many forms of digital media. However, in 1989, the obstinate effects of the camera's technical limitations - which often demanded that young Benning produce her videos with a slowness and claustrophobic proximity to the camera - also allowed the artist to confront the alienation she was experiencing while growing up queer in inner-city Milwaukee. As experiments in movement, scale and spatial orientation, these early formal meditations acted as a kind of structural model for envisioning identity as a fluid and durational process - one that was not bound to fixed notions of the self. In this early moment, Benning responded to the demands of a purely image-based means of representation by turning to more bodily, and specifically haptic, negotiations of identity. It is her hand - the foremost instrument by which she produced meaning, through the activities of drawing, writing, arranging and holding the camera - that frequently appears as a visual motif in videos such as If Every Girl Had a Diary (1990), where it fills the entire screen as a luminous apparition against a stark black background. Moving slowly from open palm to closed fist, it appears not so much as a hand but a spectral, shape-shifting abstraction.

In Benning's two-channel video animation Play Pause, 2001-2006, physical, material and bodily contingencies play out in quirky illustrations that are set within the city's most transient spaces: an ATM, a bus stop, a nightspot called Ze Bar. Both people and architecture are drawn with thick, dark lines that have a lo-fi, globular quality, and the intense flatness establishes a democratic field of vision: individual bricks of a building, a sneakered foot or a head of hair all seem to carry equal visual weight. And yet, these objects also appear on the verge of spatial autonomy, as if they will suddenly take flight from the bodies they are attached to. While the narrative makes clear that sex and desire motivate these transitory figures and spaces, the jittery and wavering way in which they are drawn reveals a different insight into Benning's corporeal relationship to the gestural mark or line. "The movement you make when you're drawing, it's like nerves. Something really bodily is happening" [Tina Kukielski, "Interview with Sadie Benning," Mousse, December 2011]. Indeed, these early drawings and paintings exhibit what David Joselit has described as "eccentric figuration" - painting that engages more visceral registers by playfully disturbing stylistic conventions of mimesis and abstraction. These irresolute forms provide a vital means of representation, enabling the formal expression of "individual particularity without hardening into a sign or stereotype" [ Painting 2.0: Expression in the Information Age, Museum Brandhorst, 2016, p. 102].

If this aesthetic development arises out of the repressive influence of modern media and spectacle culture, as Joselit seems to suggest, paradoxically, themes of media and spectacle figure most prominently for Benning when the artist's emphatic lines experience a definitive shift from "eccentric figuration" to more ostensibly abstract and monochromatic works. Benning's series of "Transitional Effects" paintings, made between 2005 and 2011, directly translates the two-dimensional effects of film editing techniques - such as wipes, fades and cuts - into the three-dimensional space of sculpture. More specifically, they are sculptural paintings assembled from plaster-covered MDF pieces that have been laboriously sanded and painted - a technique that is now ubiquitous in Benning's production. The overall effect of the artist's transitional paintings does not mirror the fleeting frames of filmic media as much as arouse the viewer's desire to touch the flesh-like contours or pull apart the imprecise edges. Painted with monochromatic hues like "Ace Fluorescent Rocket Red" and "Rustoleum Gloss Hunter Green," these panels also appear as a sly queering of the sterile industrial and serial concerns assigned to Minimalism proper. Instead, these works are more closely aligned with the bodily labor and hand-sanded contours of lesser-known minimalist figures like Anne Truitt.

In Benning's recent works, her ongoing investigations into the intricate relationship between seeing and feeling extend beyond the formation of her personal identity, into larger social and political spheres. In works like Zig Zag Yellow, 2014, the high-contrast colors and buzzy lightning-bolt pattern loosely recall the formal aesthetics of Op art - a movement wholly informed by the scientific intricacies of how retinal effects induce bodily responses, specifically by giving the illusion of movement. Made again with the same sanded, rounded-edge, wooden-jigsaw-puzzle process, Zig Zag Yellow evokes animated cartoon explosions rather than the heady theories of perception that formalized Op art in the mid-1960s. The imagery is a loose interpretation of diagrammatic charts and graphs inspired by "fuzzy math" - a term from set theory describing elements of uncertainty or incomplete information found in algebraic formulations - which has been taken up in the last few decades by politicians, economists and various media pundits as a means to substantiate or deny any number of contentious issues ranging from global warming to election results. Benning further removes this fuzzy post-truth from the visual semblance of rational and binary measurement, transforming them into the playful colors and swelling surfaces of a cushy, childproofed playroom.

Over the past year Benning has incorporated found photographs and objects into her now inter-medium works. Television, 2016, begins with a wood-mounted photograph depicting the frenzied televisual vibrations of the screen: glitchy static and low-resolution distortions bulge from the surface as acidic, fluorescent-colored blips and blurbs. Further confusing this visual noise are more clearly rendered found photographs: a sepia-toned man affixing a strange toupee, a woman standing by her vanity - strangers amid intimate, unfamiliar settings. To appeal to our more haptic impulses, Benning has also included two miniature porcelain cats on equally miniscule shelves: a scalar shift in form recalling the contained environments of the artist's early Pixelvision tableaus. Faced with the work's many spatial, sculptural and textural registers - as well as the confusing disruption of traditional figure-ground relationships brought about by combining hazy abstraction with photographic mimesis - the connection between vision and touch is made formally unequivocal.

Titled "Shared Eye," Benning's current exhibition at the Renaissance Society (Chicago) treats the architecture of the museum - which she has likened to both "womb and tomb" - as an essential component of the work, locating the artist's practice within the terrain of site-specific installation ["Sadie Benning Artist Talk with Curator Solveig Øvstebø," http://www.renaissancesociety.org/publishing/735/artist-talk-sadie-benning]. Modeled after Blinky Palermo's final cycle of paintings, posthumously titled To the People of New York City, 2016, her new series of forty mixed-media panels are arranged in fifteen sequences and groupings of one, three and four. Experienced as a whole, the variously sized panels function as visual punctuation that lend the installation a kind of durational pulse, a syncopated rhythm that plays off the dramatic, lofted ceilings and angular lines of the space. When read in a linear progression, the works move through "singular and plural" combinations - physical states that also operate as a formal metaphor for Benning's conceptual approach to the production of the individual panels. Depicting cityscapes, public parks and other sites of social and commercial exchange, the artist's iPhone-captured images fill the background of these panels. These surfaces are also comprised of orphaned photographs found on the Internet, and cheap tchotchkes purchased from eBay and Etsy. These new, technologically driven cycles of exchange weigh heavily into the work by contextualizing the changing conditions of image production/reception. The artist once said of her early videos, "I got started partly because I needed different images and I never wanted to wait for someone to do it for me" [Roberta Smith, "Sadie Benning: A Video Artist Who Talks Through a Keyhole," New York Times, March 28, 1993]. The shortage and slowness of images is no longer a pressing concern; instead, the inexhaustible supply and speed of images have become a source of anxiety. This much is clear in the magnified gaze of Benjamin Franklin on the backside of a hundred dollar bill in #4 (from Sequence 2), a straightforward visualization of "the pervasive surveillance-like affect of Capitalism" described in Benning's exhibition text. In contrast, the randomly arranged found photographs and kitschy toys act as a kind of tangible counterpoint, framing us within the psychic spaces of the miniature, of childhood and imagined narratives that open up associative connections for the viewer. In fact, the more personal dimensions of the artist's own production are no longer biographical or confessional; they are now located in the unannounced, idiosyncratic searches she employs to find her images, and the inexplicable connections she creates between image and object - the latter follows the photograph, meant as its sculptural surrogate. While this is another means by which the artist attempts to make her pictures more tactile, we are left again in the undefined spaces of visual representation.

Indeed, Benning possesses a singular ability for identifying the most elusive spatial and temporal shifts in form and further embodies them across different media and mediums. These transitional moments sometimes manifest as drawn lines, demarcating forms within a picture; the same "lines" materialize as the physical fissures that divide but also conjoin discrete sculptural forms; they also appear as durational breaks that evoke the kinetic frames of cinema or the more immaterial forms of sound and music. We might call it an aesthetics of the interval.

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Between Seeing and Touching | | Flash Art

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Sadie Benning's early black-and-white videos convey the familiar postadolescent restlessness and ennui experienced by teenagers when confined to the banal spaces of domesticity and the solitude o

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https://aestheticamagazine.com/an-intimate-gaze/

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Santiago Perez explores the concept of relationships and the romantic gaze. False eyelashes point upwards from a dewy plane of skin. Bent wire frames the soft features of a face. Pupils poke out from torn paper.

Sheaths of material swathe the figures with intimate details. Flowers protrude from thin veils and facial features are dipped in paint. Perez transforms the familiarity of facial and physical features into surreal scenarios - dreamlike versions of the self.

Pale pinks match with deep reds, turquoise and cream - clothing and backgrounds graded like sweet cinematic palettes. Perez's editorial works have appeared in Vogue Italia, Vogue Arabia, METAL Magazine and others.

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Santiago Perez explores the concept of relationships and the romantic gaze. False eyelashes point upwards from a dewy plane of skin.

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Leilah Babirye on Reclaiming Her Queer Community

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The sculptor discusses the power of reclaiming personal and cultural identity after being publicly outed and forced to flee her home country.

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https://flash---art.com/article/echoes-of-touch/

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Michele D'Aurizio: In 2002 you organized a group show titled "poT" in the context of the Liverpool Biennial, which then traveled to Galeria Fortes Vilaça in São Paulo. It was concentrated on works that had a vessel form. Can you tell me more about it?

EV: The vase is a body of gracious outlines that can also hold external content. These are qualities similar to those I expect from a work of art: grace in the making, openness to associations. The vase idea came to me as a salvation after a deep creative crisis - the first "good" works of art after that period were vases made of trashed paper. So that show marks an important moment of recovery for me, especially after years of study in London. I used to have a rather assertive approach to art making, which was well received here in Brazil in the '90s. I made conceptual drawings from pseudo memories, and thanks to that I got a scholarship from Brazil and was accepted at Goldsmiths. But there I lost everything: I told myself that what I was doing was counterfeit, and so I deconstructed everything I used to believe in.

MDA: Do you credit this to the school's teaching methods or was it more a personal process?

EV: Much as in psychotherapy, it was personal hardship within a certain method. The school shakes up your practice. I felt lucky that I was given the chance to go through this process, and it still informs the way I tend to look at art; it's all about motivation, where the work comes from and what drives it.

MDA: What do you mean by motivation? Are you searching for an idea? A spark? A technique of your own? A working process?

EV: I think it's all about the process and the ethics of making. I channel my motivations to be aware of things that excite me or affect me so that I will not feel blank or disenchanted in my practice. It has to do with the first spark of a work, you are right. But then motivation also determines some "zone of truth" in the work; it guides how I position my vision of art and society within that work. Sometimes I feel my enthusiasm escalating while I work - almost a tyrannical drive. I can cope with such bursts of ambition because I do believe that the role of art in society is enormous. I feel suspicious when I see artworks that evade, that point at problems or solutions elsewhere. I believe that these works rarely lead anywhere or help anyone.

MDA: I want to understand if you seek specific figures within your surrounding environment or if the environment itself suggests things that you then convey through your art. I am thinking about a series of sculptures in which you match the shapes of human genitalia with vegetables (Missionary, 2011; Romana, 2011; Tamanha, 2011). Did you look for genitalia in vegetables, or did you end up casually recognizing them?

EV: Well, we are all attentive to penis shapes in vegetables... So it's a figure that draws itself - it almost escapes representation. In these works the articulation of the figure and the title are a lot of fun for me. It works like a circular process that I can enter from any point. I recently made a work titled Call Girl (2013), which is a small abstract relief with a number of red and blue rectangles mounted in it. This work could be anything - it's an abstract composition - but when I looked at it I saw a make-up set: the red is the lipstick and the blue is the eye shadow. So, starting from an abstract composition I ended up with the image of a prostitute; but it could have happened the other way around. This feels to me like a way of enriching the language of abstraction and softening the process of representation.

MDA: Indeed, when I look at some of your bronze reliefs (Text Book, 2013; A4, 2013; Livro de Criança, 2013), especially if I think of them hung in a row, they remind me of the rhetoric of abstract art. But in the end, they work more like some of Blinky Palermo's late series - I am thinking about Times of the Day (1974-76) or To the People of New York City (1976). Like some of your works, you read the title and the title paradoxically makes the whole thing way less complex - it gives the work back to the viewer, connects it to everyday life.

EV: I agree: titles let me recognize the world in what I do. But they also help share alternative connections, demonstrating that the work is open to many other associations. Most of time, titling is the last step. But I worked in the opposite direction for an entire exhibition: "Pet Cemetery" at Galeria Fortes Vilaça, in 2008. There I started with the theme, because the theme in itself was so fascinating.

MDA: Why do you say that? I mean, a cemetery is usually a very melancholic scenario, but a pet cemetery also sounds cute. Do you have a pet?

EV: I do, I have a cat. She's fifteen years old, and I'm constantly terrified by the idea that she will die. Probably because of that I started to pay attention to pet cemeteries. But I also thought about cemeteries as fields for sculptures. Graves are sculptures in fact; they deal with all the elements at play in sculpture: display, pedestals, etc. So a cemetery signified for me a free land in which I could include any style and language, any material and configuration. I could do anything so long as I was able to name it: the donkey ( Burro, 2008), the dog ( Poodle, 2008), the bunny ( Henry, 2011)...

MDA: I wonder about the role of narrative in your work. Sometimes a sculpture like Romana is accompanied by triptychs of watercolors that seem to both animate the object and at the same time make more explicit the references behind it. They even reveal a formal dynamic between "resting" (Romana descanso, 2011), "leaning" (Romanadeitada, 2011) and "excitement" (Romana passional, 2011).

EV: I made these watercolors after an exhibition of the sculptures - "Missionary" at Galeria Fortes Vilaça in 2011. I had to find my way back to work after the show, and so I made drawings from the sculptures - to see them "lay down," at rest, sensually, without their supports.

When I was twenty years old I had a conceptual project that was an attempt to explore the sexual realm: I was making drawings of flesh colors, and numbering them. I felt that, with that project, I wasn't really able to stimulate any sensual movement, any echo of touch. I couldn't talk about sex through depicting it, systematizing it... I felt that any sex toy could do this better than the work!

So I believe it's important that the sculptures remain essentially useless: their sensuality doesn't have any ambition to give sensual pleasure. On the other hand, there are physical experiences that are inherent to material as such. I guess this is the reason why, in subsequent bodies of work, in the bronze reliefs, the tactile experience is conveyed in a more direct way. Those works, without being as explicit as the sculptures, are in a way meatier and fleshier.

MDA: So with the reliefs you tried to go beyond the image of sex, to express sensuality in your own working process...

EV: ...and to share it! I think that when I allow the viewer to see how deeply my fingers have gone into the clay, I am sharing that pleasure.
MDA: For me it's always very engaging when an artist manages to reveal the process through which the work of art was made. I'm particularly fascinated by techniques that turn the work into an index of the gesture.
EV: Exactly! Your eyes are all you need for feeling the material, the malleability, the temperature, the pleasure involved or the difficulty. This is as far as my ambition can go now - to share the experience in visual terms.

MDA: What about the role of the eggs in the reliefs? On the one hand, eggs are metaphors for the perfect shape; on the other, thinking about your attention to the creative process, and you being a woman, do they connect to a sort of eschatological understanding of making?

EV: I really like that image - the making of an artwork is like an egg being plopped. I have this fantasy of making my work permanently "fertile" by creating a forest of knowledge and affection out of which works would blossom or be expelled or excreted. It's funny because I tend to connect the image of eggs with the masculine. I've just given the name Boyfriend (2014) to a work with two ostrich eggs tucked into a bronze relief. The fascination with eggs started with egg cartons, which had a consistent role in the early phase of the bronze reliefs. These were actually more similar to boxes and were displayed on tables. Then I started to hang the reliefs on the wall. And that was a major move. I was very timid initially, but soon I became very excited about the additional potency, the tactile boost that the eggs and reliefs acquired on the wall.

MDA: I was also thinking recently about how wall reliefs can be physical and virtual at the same time.

EV: Exactly! And I assume that there is a collective interest in wall relief - it really embodies a sensibility of our present time, as if it answered all questions about the status of the image. I always refer to the human body as a philosophical parameter. And recently I've noticed that, despite the increasing diffusion of art through photographs, there is still so much travel going on around it. I mean, I'm traveling, you're traveling - probably because we have to be with art in the flesh.

MDA: I really like a passage from an essay that Josè Augusto Ribeiro recently wrote on your work. He says that it lies "in attrition with other instances of life" [Josè Augusto Ribeiro, "A Seven-headed Monster," in Erika Verzutti, Cobogó, 2013, p. 20]. Every time I read that passage I imagined you working, sitting at your kitchen table at night, and I felt the religiosity of that scenario, which is the scenario of creation. Do you believe there is something miraculous, for example, in recognizing a figure in an arrangement of vegetables?

EV: Art is a system that embraces miracles and magic. Nevertheless, it taps into an act of courage. You think, OK, this arrangement happened casually on my table, and I believe it's beautiful. I want to perpetuate it, share it. So it's a very human ambition: the desire to be "bolder," to do something a little bit more audacious than staring at the incidental.

MDA: Does this desire to be "bolder" connect to your move from the clay of the early works to the bronze of the most recent ones?

EV: The way I communicate is through clay, so I use the bronze in order to be able to use the clay, so to speak. Today I feel very close to my early works, when I was testing the structural limits of raw clay. For my first show at Galeria Fortes Vilaça, in 2003, I started making these very banal sculptures with raw clay, as if I was a kid: snakes, cakes, ashtrays, eggs, exploring the most essential gestures that you make when you play with mud. Think about the swan for example...

MDA: I wanted to ask you about the "swan" shape, as it recurs frequently in your work. Sometimes it's a shape from a Tarsila do Amaral painting (Tarsila com Novo, 2011), sometimes a dinosaur (Dino, 2012), a phallus...

EV: They are all a unique shapes, and I'm glad I recognize this so clearly now. Because they all echo the very essential desire for verticality, which is the desire to make a sculpture. After returning to São Paulo I was lost. I spent two years thinking. And, at one point, sculpture came to me as the only direction - to be in between things, to be involved in daily life and in art as a part of daily life. So I tried to make the most elemental sculpture I was able to. And the swan shape just came. The clay wouldn't stay up - it would bend - and so you would place a brush or anything at hand to hold it until it dries... Now I am back to the swan in a totally unexpected way. I am working on a theater play for my upcoming solo show at the Sculpture Center in New York. Here the swan will become a stage and the brush will be a human being.

MDA: You presented an early version of this work in the exhibition "Postcodes" at the Casa do Povo, in São Paulo. Does that city function like a testing ground for you?

EV: No, it doesn't. It's more a matter of responsibility - it's like family. São Paulo is my hometown, and so, in a truly teenage fashion, I always do things that I would never do otherwise.

MDA: Are there peers or older artists in the São Paulo art scene who have inspired you?

EV: I like to tell this story: I was nineteen, I was studying design, and had no clue what contemporary art was. I was watching TV and saw a talk show in which Leda Catunda was being interviewed. She was showing a painting made of promotional t-shirts. I was shocked by that. So I started to follow this group of people who were active in the '80s, and still are: Catunda, Jac Leirner, Sergio Romagnolo, Paulo Monteiro. My art came as a reaction to the art I was seeing in the city.

MDA: So, after studying in London, why did you come back?

EV: I didn't have any money. And, besides that, I always knew that I wanted to come back. I felt that if I brought what I had learned back to Brazil, I would feel very rich here. At the end of the day, I always come back to São Paulo, despite it being a very tough city.

MDA: Does the city stimulate you?

EV: Yes, even if for me São Paulo is more about being inside places - we live without much of a horizon here. So it's more about being in my bedroom, in my kitchen, in my studio - about feeling that I belong to a place. In the play that I am writing for the show at the Sculpture Center there is a moment when the performer translates the sculpture's thoughts: "The swan says that he feels lonely in São Paulo." Then the swan is asked: "Do you really feel lonely?" And that's what I ask myself: Do I really feel lonely in São Paulo? But the answer is that I don't, not anymore.

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Michele D'Aurizio: In 2002 you organized a group show titled "poT" in the context of the Liverpool Biennial, which then traveled to Galeria Fortes Vilaça in São Paulo. It was concentrat

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https://www.foam.org/nl/events/foam-talent-2022

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https://www.sohu.com/a/455369183_120633128

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https://www.museum.or.jp/report/103928

“…. In art, "bijin-ga," which depicts beautiful women, is a standard genre, but I've never heard of "hand-painted men."

However, just like being attracted to beautiful women, it is natural to be attracted to beautiful men. The ideal male figure has often been represented in paintings and sculptures. …”

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アイエム［インターネットミュージアム］

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美術において、美しい女性を描く「美人画」は定番のジャンルですが、「美男画」は聞いた事がありません。

ただ、美しい女性に惹かれるように、美しい男性に惹かれるのは自然の摂理。理想的な男性像は、しばしば絵画や彫刻で表現されてきました。

日本における美少年・美青年のイメージを、江戸時代から現代までのさまざまな作品から紹介する展覧会が、埼玉県立近代美術館で開催中です。

埼玉県立近代美術館「美男におわす」会場入口

本展のきっかけは、2014年から2015年にかけて島根県立石見美術館などで開催された「美少女の美術史」展。「今度は美男で」という意見が寄せられ、今回は島根と埼玉で開催される事になりました。

会場は5章構成で、第1章「伝説の美少年」には、神秘的な稚児や童子像、歴史的に美少年と謳われた人々の肖像などが紹介されています。

入口近くの大きな屛風は、朝霞市にアトリエを構える入江明日香の作品です。一見すると日本画のようですが、銅版画をベースにしたミクストメディアです。

入江明日香《L'Alpha et l'Oméga》2019年 丸沼芸術の森

第2章は「愛しい男」。日本の文化史では、成人男性の近くで身の回りの世話をする少年たちの存在は一般的ともいえます。衆道は庶民の間にも浸透し、近世の絵画では若衆の姿もさかんに描かれています。

《楽屋風呂から》は、公演を追えた歌舞伎役者による楽屋のひとこまです。化粧を落としたふたりの間には、色っぽい雰囲気が漂います。

三宅凰白《楽屋風呂から》1915年 京都市立芸術大学芸術資料館

第3章は「魅せる男」。現代でも俳優やアイドルが人気を集めるように、江戸時代の人々は歌舞伎役者たちに心をときめかせました。

歌舞伎の舞台などを描いた風俗画が盛んに描かれると、後に人物だけを抜き出した絵画が生まれます。特定のモデルではなく、理想の美女や美少年を描いた「美人画」に繋がっていきます。

（左から）絵師不詳《大小の舞図》1630～60年頃 千葉市美術館 ／ 井上東籬《瀬川菊之丞図》18世紀 東京国立博物館［ともに展示期間：9/23～10/10］

第4章は「戦う男」。男性の美といえば、強さは欠かせません。超人的な強さを持つ戦う男を美男として描く事は、江戸時代から現代まで続く"お約束"ともいえます。

大正時代に少年を対象とした雑誌で活躍したのが高畠華宵です。西洋の美意識と浮世絵の要素を融合させ、中性的な魅力を持つ独自の美少年像を生み出しました。

（左から）高畠華宵《主税の奮戦》昭和初期 弥生美術館 ／ 高畠華宵《杜鵑一声》1926年 弥生美術館［ともに展示期間：9/23～10/10］

そして第5章は、現代のアーティストの作品を紹介する「わたしの『美男』、あなたの『美男』」。漫画やアニメ、ゲームなどに触れながら育った作家たちは、それぞれが理想とする男性像をつくっていきました。

𠮷田芙希子はレリーフを中心に、憧れの美青年の顔を制作する作家。顔だけが彩色もなく浮かび上がることで、まつ毛や唇などパーツの美しさが際立っています。

𠮷田芙希子《風がきこえる》2021年

木村了子は2005年から「イケメン」を描き続けている日本画家。女性目線のエロスを標榜し、大胆な作品も含めて注目を集めています。

右隻に肉食系男子、左隻に草食系男子を描いた《男子楽園図屏風 − EAST & WEST》は、作家を代表する作品です。それぞれが個性的なので、きっとお気に入りの男子が見つかると思います。

木村了子《男子楽園図屏風 − EAST & WEST》2011年 作家蔵

若い男性が骸骨を被るような、ひときわ目を引く木彫は、金巻芳俊の作品《空刻メメント・モリ》。「メメント・モリ」は「死を忘ることなかれ」という西洋の警句です。

若さや美貌は時と共に消え去ってしまう事を暗示していますが、あばら骨の間から見える青年の口元は、とても魅力的です。

金巻芳俊《空刻メメント・モリ》2021年 フマコンテンポラリートーキョー｜文京アート

川井徳寛は、西洋絵画やおとぎ話に由来する主題を、独自に再構築した作品で知られる油彩画家です。

《共生関係～自動幸福～》では、ヒーローのような白馬の王子は何もしておらず、実際に悪魔と戦っているのは少女たち。少女はストローで王子の美しさからエネルギーを得ているのです。

川井徳寛《共生関係～自動幸福～》2008年 鎌苅宏司氏蔵

多様な性のあり方について、社会的な関心が高まっている昨今。ジェンダーをテーマにした展覧会も、良く目にするようになりました。

ただ「美人」＝「美しい女性」という固定観念は、なかなか強固である事も事実。「美しい男」をめぐる表現の行く末がどうなるのかにも、注目して行きたいと思います。

※会期の途中で一部展示替えがあります。

[ 取材・撮影・文：古川幹夫 ／ 2021年9月29日 ]

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美男におわす | レポート | アイエム［インターネットミュージアム］

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美男におわすの取材レポート。美男におわすを実際の会場で取材し、写真と動画で紹介。行ったからこそ分かる美男におわすの見どころとポイントを分かりやすくお伝えします。美男におわすのレビューはアイエムで！

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https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/92088721

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https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/world-48309432.amp

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https://aestheticamagazine.com/new-dynamics/

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https://artouch.com/art-market/content-3833.html

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2015 台北國際藝術博覽會

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https://images.app.goo.gl/eR8rktERBtjzzmku6

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https://www.kanaloco.jp/news/culture/bunka/article-424358.html

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カナロコ by 神奈川新聞

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荒木夏実准教授が携わった「彼女たちは歌う」展で披露されたアート作品（撮影・Ｒｅｎｔａｒｏ　Ｈｏｒｉ）

「ジェンダー×アート」と題したトークイベントが２０日、アートフォーラムあざみ野（横浜市青葉区）で開かれる。

社会問題に対しユニークな提案をするアーティストの表現に触れながら、芸術と社会の関係について考える。

「呪いの言葉」もテーマに

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アートから見るジェンダーギャップ　「社会見つめる契機に」 #metoo #youtoo　国際女性デー2021 | カナロコ by 神奈川新聞

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「ジェンダー×アート」と題したトークイベントが２０日、アートフォーラムあざみ野（横浜市青葉区）で開かれる。社会問題に対しユニークな提案をするアーティストの表現に触れながら、芸術と社会の関係について考える。「呪いの言葉」もテーマに世界経済フォ...

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https://artouch.com/art-news/content-866.html

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Chi-Wen Gallery 入選全球三大博覽會FRIEZE | 典藏ARTouch.com

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陳瀅如｜超距作用　2015　圖｜Chi-Wen GalleryChi-Wen Gallery獲邀入選2016 年「倫敦斐列茲藝術博覽會」（Frieze Art Fair London 2016）之「Focus Section

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http://yoded.com/?p=847

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http://www.mrexhibition.net/wp_mimi/?cat=10&paged=3

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「インティマシー（親密さ）」という類いのテーマが、美術の展覧会においてとりあげられるとき、それがとても魅力的に思えるのはなぜだろう。展覧会だけではない。作品がなにか「親密さ」に関わる主題をめぐって作られたとき、たとえば、美術作品や文学作品、演劇や音楽、あるいはパフォーマンス。様々な形をとって行なわれる表現が、人々の非常に個人的な部分に触れると知るとき、そのようは表現は「繊細で脆く小さな世界」...

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https://www.critical-stages.org/21/paradigm-shift-making-theatre-with-social-media-in-the-21st-century/

“… This focuses on these two experiences of professional theatre-making and explores the distinction between creating work with social media and making work about social media, given how the complexities of it proliferate and change so rapidly. …”

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Danielle Le Saux-Farmer*
Abstract

In The Society of the Spectacle, first published in French in 1967, Guy Debord has a sense that "the show is not a collection of images, but a social rapport between people, mediatized by images." While his observations certainly ring true in the internet age, it is unlikely that Debord could have envisioned the extent to which mediatization has transformed the making of theatrical work. Social media, being at the heart of everyone's day to day experience, is a central part of the two works under discussion here: Semblance (2013) and La fin de la fiction, which is currently in development and scheduled for production in 2022. This paper focuses on these two experiences of professional theatre-making and explores the distinction between creating work with social media and making work about social media, given how the complexities of it proliferate and change so rapidly.
Keywords: social media, theatre creation, process, product, collective

In The Society of the Spectacle, first published in French in 1967, Guy Debord argues that "the show is not a collection of images, but a social rapport between people, mediatized by images" (10). While his observations certainly ring true in the internet age, it is unlikely that Debord could have envisioned the extent to which mediatization would have transformed the making of theatrical work. Over the past eight years of creating new work as a theatre maker, I have experienced directly the intensification of the use of social media in collaborations with the theatre company Les Nuages en pantalon (founded in 2001), with whom I have worked closely. This company has a reputation for working with diverse artists to produce works that bear witness to contemporary cultural concerns facing humanity.

Inspired by the Cycle Repère method, made popular among French Canadian theatre makers in 1980, members of Les Nuages en pantalon devise theatre through a creation process of using material objects as "sensitive resources" through which they explore the relationship between the actor and the stage. Working with Les Nuages en pantalon, each artist participates in the writing, staging, set design and performance. Because of this creative method, all aspects of the production develop simultaneously, organically and over a long period of rehearsals, as opposed to more traditional approaches in making theatre work, often condensed to a few weeks.

Under discussion here are two projects on which I have collaborated that include an exploration of social media: Semblance, in 2013 and La fin de la fiction, which is currently in development and scheduled for production in 2022. Focusing on these experiences, this paper explores the distinction between making theatre work with social media and making theatre work about social media. I am particularly interested in three aspects that have emerged in these collaborative theatre projects: how social media has influenced the creation process, specifically within the context of collective creation; how social media influences the themes of our relationship to reality and fiction; and how social media foregrounds issues of time-sensitivity and relevance with respect to the use of such technology as a tool for making theatre.

The Semblance project began its development in 2010 with the graduating class of the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Québec. As a class, we worked under the direction of the founder of Les Nuages en pantalon, Jean-Philippe Joubert, improvising and writing for three months, until opening of the production in December 2010. The creative process for this piece unfolded in a very short and intense time frame. It was based on collective improvisation and inspired in part by the Cycle Repère method. The fundamental question we discussed was: what is loneliness?

The result was a constellation of characters and situations dealing with different types of solitude and disconnectedness we encounter in a very digitally connected, but superficial, modern world. The central character, a commercial photographer in search of truth and authenticity, foregrounded a poetic shift from digital to film photography. When we reworked the piece in 2013 at the Périscope Theatre in Québec City, we had to reflect the changes in social media usage, and thus we rewrote certain characters to demonstrate how their dynamic online presence was in stark contrast to their real-life situations of being alone, lost and disconnected from others.

Integrating social media in the reworking of the play had profound effects both on the final performance, in terms of writing and staging, and on the creative process. One of things we realized early on was that we could no longer continue to improvise the development of new character arcs. As a group, we were accustomed to using active ways of developing scenes and dialogues. For example, we used improvisation to explore the story's possibilities; a rule of thumb in the process was always "don't talk about the idea-do it." Yet, expressing a character's inner life through social media, such as improvising someone scrolling through their Facebook feed, proved to be quite uninteresting to the performance we had in mind. However, when we staged the act of scrolling, with a projection of the content visible to the audience, the scene became dynamic.

Thinking about staging became a main focus of the process, which developed simultaneously with the writing of the scenes. In terms of process, then, we had to rethink how we were developing the stories. We were trying to remain instinctive, to avoid being too analytical, while, at the same time, the members of the creative team were exploring various social media platforms, quite disconnected from each other. Ironically, as artists of a collective creation, despite our best intentions, we often found ourselves becoming disengaged from the work and one another; a theme that developed further as the piece evolved.

Within this context of developing the 2013 version of the work, we used the same characters, but now they were much more connected to their social media profiles and were experiencing various forms of loneliness, grief and emptiness, desperately searching for human, real-life, connection. There were employees of a communications agency, for instance, who were in the process of launching the website of a self-help power couple. Indeed, in this version of Semblance the focus on photography really evolved into a theme of the tyranny of the image we project of ourselves, especially on social media platforms. Thus, social media was not only present in the production as a subject in certain storylines, but also as a scenic language. Different social media platforms were projected onto the walls of the space, allowing the audience to experience the characters' sincere quests for meaning and connection in the face of loss and emptiness. As theatre critic Alain-Martin Richard put it, "all the characters in this multiplatform theatre are searching for their own identities, torn between a world of appearances and a world of flesh" (2017).

Video 1

Reality and Fiction: Extending Characters into the Real Internet

For the 2013 production, we created an extension of Semblance that would exist beyond the time of the performance, into the space of the "real internet." This idea of having an internet platform for a theatre production was not new and is now commonplace. But in this case, we used the internet extension to enhance the narrative, giving the fictional characters full-fledged social media profiles that the audience could scroll through outside of the performance, before or after the show.

We created a Tumblr profile for Fannie, the communications agent, obsessed with body image; clips on Vimeo for Simon, an actor looking for work; and Facebook profiles for the other characters. In creating what we called the show's social media "periphery," our goal was to offer the audience an opportunity to connect and interact with the characters beyond the time and space of the performance and experience them as if they were not fictional characters. One reviewer highlighted the truth/fiction dichotomy that this staging produced:

This strange theatre questions the place of reality/truth within reality, the place of the concrete in the virtual, inquires into the notion of consciousness/awareness. The tools that mankind has invented to tell its stories and define itself find here their expression as well as their limits. But they are between the theatre and the lobby, between inside and outside the building, between direct contact and mediation through social media, between the degrees of a fabricated image (chemical or digital) and its resonance on our identity-all this defines a world that seems familiar, yet quite disconcerting. The characters of Semblance, well before this official exhibit, already existed in another space of reality. On websites, we can follow their careers, read their blogs, watch their videos, visit the marketing agency.
Richard 2017

Ultimately, we faced a serious challenge: we asked how we can better build the online lives of our fictional characters? We attempted to create intricate, interesting, dense and coherent content, so that these lives could exist and be somewhat believable. We extended them into the outside of the stage production and into the social media realm.

In a traditional theatre performance, what the audience receives is typically limited to what the artists have chosen to have them hear and see in a fixed amount of time and space. Yet if we give our audience a chance to navigate the Internet and scroll through a blog, they will have time to delve into the content at their leisure. This realization evolved into us having to write very furnished, detailed backstories for these characters, complete with photos and videos that would appear to have been created over a real time-span of years and not a few months of writing. So, the task of creating these online profiles not only because colossal from a creative and dramaturgical perspective, but it also revealed the limits of fiction. These characters do not, in fact, have full, complex human lives-they exist only in the world of the play.

Further, unlike corporate creative teams or marketing firms, we did not have the means as a collective, in terms of time or funding, to continually update and develop these fictional online personas. The impossibility of this task for our small production team left us as artists with a concept that did not properly "land." It was a great experiment for the team, but as the social media periphery project took on a life of its own, this time-consuming and labour-intensive undertaking yielded insufficient results.

At the same time, the online portion of the creation, despite threatening to overtake us as writers, did correspond to what we wanted to say. It revealed a bigger truth about the internet and social media: that it is a space where real people interact in virtual ways, and fictional characters cannot sustain that. And despite our general feeling that social media is superficial, real people using it in 2013 were trying to connect and express themselves online. Now, in 2020, with the prevalence of fake social media accounts and a growing corporate presence on the platforms, the stakes have changed again.

Moving beyond Themes of Online Superficiality: La fin de la fiction

The challenges of sustaining a fictional character's online presence, I believe, would be tenfold if we had tried this concept in 2020. In 2013, as we were reworking the piece, social media was gaining momentum, but it was still a relatively new phenomena. Mostly, it posed questions of what image you would present to the world online as opposed to what you are actually experiencing. Since then, social media has evolved, and is continuing to do so, and we have now gone well beyond the simplistic dichotomy of perception versus reality.

Truth vs. Fiction and the End of Fiction

Five years after Semblance, I was invited by Jean-Phillipe Joubert to collaborate again with Les Nuages en pantalon, this time as Artistic Director of Théâtre Catapulte, a French-language theatre located in Ottawa, Canada, whose mandate over its 28-year history has evolved to support the collective creation of new work by established and emerging artists.

We began developing a new piece, La fin de la fiction ( The End of Fiction), focusing on the topic of post-truth politics and polarization on social media platforms. Like many people since the 2016 election of Donald Trump in the U.S., we were both amazed and appalled at the way social media platforms were changing. The title La fin de la fiction was chosen to indicate how the lines between truth and fiction are increasingly blurred, especially when we examine how social media is deployed.

Rather than exploring how fake social media profiles are circulated, we are now researching how certain conspiracy theories, which emerged during the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, used platforms like YouTube, zombie Twitter and Facebook accounts to influence the outcome of that election.

Starting with phenomena like the digital echo chambers (Flaxman et al. 298-320), we have expanded our research to consider the effects of such incidents as the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook data breaches, Russian meddling in many elections around the globe through manipulation of social media, and concerted efforts by a number of organizations to sow discord and chaos between opposing social groups and political movements. One thing that is clear with this new paradigm of information exchange is the speed with which the uses and abuses of social media continue to intensify in the dissemination of (mis)information in the "real" world.

Time-Sensitivity: Staying Relevant w ith Rapidly Changing Platforms

In my experience with Les Nuages en pantalon, as well as with my own theatre-making practice, the creation process from development to opening night can take a minimum of three years to produce well-researched, factually rigorous content with artistic merit. Such a process is a temporal challenge when the subject matter is social media. Already, in the two years of research we have completed to date, we have deepened the study of platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube by simply keeping up with updates on a regular basis. Our findings continue to change rapidly, particularly in ways that impact how these platforms are used and by whom.

As users have adapted to the changes in social media platforms, our public institutions have also had to recognize the monopoly held by Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft (GAFAM), and have realized-through incidents like the Cambridge Analytica data breach-just how problematic it is to have so much social and political power contained and controlled in this fashion. Further, in 2020, unlike when we first dabbled in such technology in 2013, governmental structures are beginning to legislate how social media platforms can be used for particular social and political ends.

In 2018, when we worked on La fin de la fiction, our aim was to build a cahier de création (creation handbook) as our reference guide for writing on the topic of Russian political interference. After two years of workshops and development, we have realized that this subject matter is so dense that improvisation cannot be the entry point into creating this piece. Moreover, the topic of Russian meddling with the U.S. elections through social media has become so ubiquitous that telling its story theatrically has lost any significance it might once have had. We realized that Facebook's undeniable presence in the global, political landscape was no longer the focus of the project; and thus, we decided to explore such complex notions like algorithms, feedback loops and data points to demonstrate that it is becoming more and more difficult to separate truth from fiction, both in our everyday lives and on stage.

Creation Process: Finding the Theatre in the Algorithm

Today, we continue looking for new ways to stage our relationships with the social media platforms. These relationships constitute a "sensitive resource" for making theatre as understood by the Cycle Repère method. For example, in our work today, we investigate how we can better stage polarization of an audience that reflects the way we have become polarized as social media users within a context that examines how conspiracy theories circulate on these platforms. Regardless of what ultimate shape this project takes, the result of what we have learned so far about the complexity of social media platforms has brought us from showing them onstage in the lives of the characters to providing an opportunity for our spectators to experience social media inner workings and mechanisms.

It is an incredibly exciting project to be working on, even though the ground is constantly shifting beneath us. Every four or five months, we come back to the research and find that we are spending more time refreshing the information than deciding how to use it to create a piece of theatre. We suspect that this constant back-and-forth between the source material and the creative process will impact the form of the piece. In other words, in the same way that social media is a multifaceted, continuously evolving phenomenon, developing this show has become a self-reflexive commentary on the source material.

In La fin de la fiction, the process and the product are inextricably intertwined, as we aim to create a piece of theatre about social media within a society of spectacle increasingly impacted by blurred lines of reality and fiction online. This way it seems to me we are getting closer to Debord's statement that when "the spectacle, taken as a whole, is both and at once, the result and the existing method of production as a project. It is not a supplement to the real world, a decoration that is added. It is the heart of unreality within real society" (Debord 11). So, as with our earlier collective creation, which began in 2010, the members of this creative team are using theatre to ask simple question: what is the human, emotional response to this new paradigm of a society built with and around social media?

Endnote

All translations from French to English are by the author

Bibliography

Debord, Guy. La Société de Spectacle. 3rd ed., Les Éditions Gallimard, 1967.

Flaxman, Seth, et al. "Filter Bubbles, Echo Chambers, and Online News Consumption." Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 80, no. S1, 2016, pp. 298-320.

Richard, Alain-Martin. " Semblance: Comment ressembler à notre image. " Revue Jeu, 21 Mar. 2013. Accessed 27 Feb. 2020.

*Danielle Le Saux-Farmer is an actress, director, translator and theatre maker. She obtained an undergraduate degree from the University of Ottawa's Theatre department in 2008. She then completed training as an actress at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Québec in 2011, in Québec City, where she worked as a theatre maker for the first years of her professional career. In 2017, she was appointed Artistic Director of Théâtre Catapulte, a French-language theatre company in Ottawa.

Copyright © 2020 Danielle Le Saux-Farmer
Critical Stages/Scènes critiques e-ISSN: 2409-7411

This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

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Paradigm Shift: Making Theatre with Social Media

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Danielle Le Saux-Farmer* Abstract In The Society of the Spectacle, first published in French in 1967, Guy Debord has a sense that "the show is not a collection of images, but a social rapport...

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De kleur in de plattegrond komt overeen met onderstaande tarieven. Tijdens de show kun je op eigen gelegenheid dranken en signature The Harbour Club bites bestellen.

Our Latin diva Miss Abby OMG is a Brazilian Drag Queen who is known for her fierce beauty looks and full of energy performances. She was one of the finalists for RuPaul's Drag Race Holland Season 1.

Sederginne is the quintessential comedy queen. Always crazy, weird and strange things in life are examined, enlarged and brought to the stage. Nothing is off limits, from Gilles de la Tourette parody to Celine Dion. This queen has got it all.

Envy Peru is one of our lead performers together with Vanessa van Cartier. Envy was born in Amsterdam in 2016. Due to her incredible make-up skills and sensual performances, she quickly made a name for herself in Holland's nightlife and television. With more than 300,000 followers on social media and winner of RuPaul's Drag Race Holland Season 1, she is one of the top queens in the world.

We are proud to present Vanessa van Cartier as the lead performer in The Amsterdam Drag Show. She is the first European Queen to win the world championships of Drag: Miss Continental World 2019. And rightfully so.

Meet Janey Jacké, a fierce talent that stole the heart of fans all across the globe. With her astonishing looks and humor this dancing queen slays the house down. Internationally she is most famous for being the runner up on the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race Holland. Janey will definitely shine on the stage of The Amsterdam Drag Show.

The New York queen Skyla Versai started her career as an international style ballroom champion and musical theater performer. She is the host of the Amsterdam Drag Show. With her unique sense of humor, lipsinc and dancing skills, she will amaze any audience.

De beste live muzikanten, geweldige dans acts, een wereldberoemde show van Hans Klok en de signature gerechten van The Harbour Club. VEGAS heeft het allemaal. Een avondprogramma waar je tot voor kort het vliegtuig voor moest pakken, beleef je vanaf september opnieuw in Amsterdam. Een restaurant dat geleidelijk overgaat in een hippe club met onvergetelijke showelementen!

NA ROTTERDAM NU IN AMSTERDAM

De grootste drag productie uit Europa komt naar Amsterdam! The Amsterdam Drag Show is vanaf juli 2022 te zien in The Harbour Club Theater. Verwacht een avond vol zang, dans en comedy dankzij een geweldige cast met 7 queens van wereldniveau. Met een hoofdrol voor Envy Peru of Vanessa van Cartier en vaste queens Abby OMG, Janey Jacké, Sederginne, Axel Andro en de New Yorkse MC Skyla Versai.

Locatie The Harbour Club Theater ligt pal naast The Harbour Club Amsterdam Oost. Perfect bereikbaar met het openbaar vervoer, de auto of per boot (Port Entrepot, Zeeburgerkade).

Parkeren U kunt o.a. gebruik maken van de parkeergarage Parking Zeeburgerkade op het adres Wijnsilostraat 2. Deze bevind zich aan de rechterzijde van The Harbour Club.

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The Amsterdam Drag Show | The Harbour Club Theater

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Pick your area De kleur in de plattegrond komt overeen met onderstaande tarieven. Tijdens de show kun je op eigen gelegenheid dranken en signature The Harbour Club bites bestellen. Our Latin diva Miss Abby OMG is a Brazilian Drag Queen who is known for her fierce beauty looks and full of energy performances.

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Gespeeld door een knallende all queer cast. Op zoek naar een nieuwe fantastische wereld waar queerness de norm is. Ontsnap aan vast omlijnde ideeën over gender, wees 'in between' en "move on"!

Een queeste naar identiteit gemaakt door een diverse groep acteurs en performers. Na Trojan Wars regisseert Noël Fischer deze energieke performance.
Regisseur Noël Fischer maakte eerder de met sterren overladen voorstelling Trojan Wars. Waarvoor ze de Gouden Krekel won & de Procenium Prijs voor Kostuumontwerper Carly Everaert. Daarnaast won Bram Suijker de Louis d'or voor beste mannelijke hoofdrol.
Hot avonden zetten je aan het denken: QUEER IS HOT

De HOT is het podium waarop Het Nationale Theater inzoomt op thema's die in onze voorstellingen aan bod komen. QUEER IS HOT is een avond rond de voorstelling Queer Planet. Kom ook op maandag 21 november in de Koninklijke Schouwburg.
QUEER IS HOT

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Gespeeld door een knallende all queer cast. Op zoek naar een nieuwe fantastische wereld waar queerness de norm is. Ontsnap aan vast omlijnde ideeën over gender, wees 'in between' en "move on"! Een queeste naar identiteit gemaakt door een diverse groep acteurs en performers. Na Trojan Wars regisseert Noël Fischer deze energieke performance.

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https://mu.nl/nl/exhibitions/real-feelings-emotion-and-technology

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Emoties zijn de essentie van de menselijke ervaring. Of je er blij mee bent of niet: ze zijn verweven met alle aspecten van het dagelijks leven en beïnvloeden welke kant we opgaan als individu en als samenleving. Ze maken ons menselijk en onderscheiden ons van robots en andere machines. Of verlangt - misschien zelfs vereist - het digitale tijdperk een herdefinitie?

Laatste weekend om de expo te bezoeken!

We zijn op een punt beland dat machines steeds slimmer worden, intelligent zelfs. Maar wordt daarmee de kloof van emotionele intelligentie tussen mens en machine ook steeds kleiner? En zijn we, vanuit een net andere invalshoek, nog wel de baas over onze eigen emoties; liefde, empathie, haat, angst? Of raken we de controle kwijt over wat we echt voelen in deze tijd van transformatie, en worden we niet alleen gesteund door technologie maar ook beïnvloed, in de gaten gehouden en gemanipuleerd?

Work: Solitary Survival Raft - Luc y McRae. Photo: Ariel Fisher
Real Feelings: Emotion and Technology toont werk van 20 internationale hedendaagse kunstenaars die de explosief groeiende wisselwerking tussen technologie en emoties uitdagen, verkennen en provoceren: van de hoogte- en dieptepunten tot de lusten en lasten. Verdiep je met ons in dit open onderzoek naar een cruciaal thema in deze technologie-gedreven, pandemische tijden.

Technologie bemoeit zich met onze emoties als nooit tevoren. In feite creëren diverse technologieën nieuwe gevoelens, waarvoor we soms zelfs nog geen woorden hebben om ze mee te beschrijven. Social media, kunstmatige intelligentie, robotica, biometrie, Virtual Reality: ze ordenen en beoordelen onze emoties op talloze manieren. Grote techbedrijven proberen ons gedrag te sturen door dopamine-afgifte te stimuleren met apps die reageren op biometrische gegevens. Onze hartslag, transpiratie, spraak en lichaamstaal worden gevolgd door smartwatches, trackers, apps en webcams die een steeds prominentere plaats innemen in ons leven. Aan schermtijd gerelateerde angsten en depressies vormen een grotere constante in het leven van jonge kinderen dan sociale activiteiten en relaties.

Tegelijkertijd was technologie de lijm die ons in het voorbije jaar bij elkaar hield tijdens de pandemie, door ons de mogelijkheid te bieden om dingen te delen ondanks social distancing en een gebrek aan fysieke verbinding. Die lichamelijkheid is een cruciaal onderdeel van onze communicatie die we, achteraf gezien, voor lief hebben genomen tot het moment dat het onmogelijk werd.

Onze wereld wordt overspoeld door digitale technologieën die letterlijk een verlengstuk van onszelf zijn geworden: thuis, op school en in het ziekenhuis nemen robots empathische taken op zich als slimme assistenten en vervullen ze seksuele verlangens; slimme apparaten ontfermen zich over onze behoeften - we communiceren meer met technologie dan met elkaar. Zoals Sherry Turkle stelt: 'technologie verleidt ons met 'makkelijke' emoties door relaties te bieden zonder de complexiteit van direct contact'. We laten het rommelige, ingewikkelde en tijdrovende proces om elkaar te begrijpen graag over aan technologie, om maar te zwijgen over het managen van menselijke emoties. Dit leidt tot de vraag: hoe verandert technologie ons sociaal gedrag; hoe zijn we nog intiem, eerlijk en aanwezig ten opzichte van elkaar?

Deelnemende kunstenaars
Antoine Catala (FR), Stine Deja & Marie Munk (DK), Heather Dewey-Hagborg (US), Justine Emard (FR), Cécile B. Evans (UK), Ed Fornieles (UK), Maria Guta (RO), Esther Hunziker (CH), Seokyung Kim (KR), Clément Lambelet (CH), Lorem (IT), Kyle McDonald & Lauren McCarthy (US), Simone C. Niquille (CH), Dani Ploeger (NL), Lucy McRae (AU), Shinseungback Kimyonghun (KR), Maija Tammi (FI), Troika (UK), Coralie Vogelaar (NL), Liam Young (AU)
Lorem - Adversarial Feelings (2019) Work: Co(AI)xistence - Justine Emard. Photo: Justine Emard / Adagp, Paris 2020
Campagnebeeld: Coralie Vogelaar - Infinite Posture Dataset (2020)

Curators
Sabine Himmelsbach, Ariane Koek and Angelique Spaninks

Real Feelings is tot stand gekomen in samenwerking met HeK (Basel, Zwitserland). Met dank aan Pro Helvetia. Haal de uitgebreide Real Feelings catalogus in huis. Het boek bevat naast documentatie van de werken ook actuele wetenschappelijke en artistieke bijdragen. Bestel de publicatie in de MU webshop.

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MU | Real Feelings: Emotion And Technology

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https://in-touch-digital.com/2020/03/12/a-visual-and-tactile-graphic-design-experiment-touch-project/

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Figure 1: A tactile-visual re-imagining of 'Wallpaper' magazine. Image credit: Parinda Sakdanaraseth.

I am fascinated by the sense of touch. With my background in Graphic Design, I feel a joy in using the little power I have to experiment and play with different kinds of paper to create rich textures for publications. Paper, whether smooth, rough, eggshell-like or matte, can create almost infinite outcomes when combined with printing techniques for us to experience through both seeing and touching. In this 'Thinking Piece', I describe how my interest in this area led me to create 'Touch Project', an experimental design series that aimed to create a 'common language' for communicating to both visual and visually impaired users, by integrating visual and tactile graphic design techniques.

'Touch Project' evolved from a piece I created for a publication module on my Graphic Design BA at Chulalongkorn University. I was given a brief to re-imagine the magazine ' Wallpaper ' for a new target group. I chose to focus on visually impaired users as I thought it would be interesting to play with the idea of a 'visual-heavy' magazine. To meet the project's 4-week timescale, I created a magazine spread that used embossing techniques to outline and 'puff up' visual imagery. I added further textures, for example, using glossy varnish to paint some parts of the illustration to mimic the feel of metal.

Figure 2. A re-imagined spread for 'Wallpaper' magazine, designed with embossing techniques for visually impaired users. Image credit: Parinda Sakdanaraseth.

In the next stage, I began by creating random graphic patterns. Some were simple, made up of dots and lines. Others were quite messy as I tried to mimic textures from nature. In the next step - turning the visual tactile - I used 'puffed colour' a common screen-printing technique used on T-shirts. After the colour dries, it is heated with a high-intensity heat gun, and 'puffs up' to create a highly tactile texture. I applied this technique to 35-pattern pieces on a single screen.This short project ignited my interest in the possibilities of texture and how it affects perception, particularly for visually impaired users. I decided to spend another whole year developing this concept as part of the final degree project for my BA.

Figure 3. Screen block for my set of 35 tactile pattern pieces, created using a puff colour technique. Image credit: Parinda Sakdanaraseth.

Figure 4: Finished tactile pattern pieces. Image credit: Parinda Sakdanaraseth.

With the support of the Thai Blind Association, I then facilitated a workshop with a small group of four visually-impaired participants. Two had low-vision, and had lost much of their sight when they were teenagers. The other two had been completely blind since birth. The workshop aimed to explore the tactile pattern pieces by asking participants to describe which emotions they experienced or associated with each piece.

Many interesting points emerged from the discussions. In particular, the experience of visual and tactile perception was connected to the degree of visual impairment the participants experienced. The low-vision participants, who had previously experienced sight and could still perceive blurry shapes and colours, were able to visualise the object that they touched in a contour form, in the same way people without visual impairments might. These participants were also able to perceive additional tactile details. For example, in another exercise, I asked participants to draw a human body, using a special tool that allows the visually-impaired user to draw with a thread. They accurately created a contour and then layered additional textural details to each part, such as the 'silkiness of the hair' or 'softness of the cotton shirt'.

The fully-blind participants perceived the tactile pieces very differently. They paid more attention to the spatial aspects of the patterns created by the puffed colour technique. For example, in the exercise where they were asked to draw a human body, they applied the thread tool to create a low-relief textural form rather than an outline.

Figure 5: Interviewing Lookpla, a visually impaired participant. Image credit: Chitta Janrassameewilai.

In the next stage of my project, I choose to work with one of the fully-blind participants, a Fine Art student called Lookpla. I thought her artistic knowledge might help draw out and illuminate some of the links between emotions and tactile patterns. During this session, I handed her the textured pieces one at a time. As she touched each one, she told me if the piece held positive or negative associations, and which emotion it reminded her of. She gave me a different answer for each of the 35 pieces and was able to recall precisely all the pieces she had touched. It was interesting to observe some of the overlaps between myself as a visual 'user' making associations with the eyes and Lookpla as a visually-impaired 'user' making associations through the hand; for example the two patterns shown in Figure 6 below were identified by both of us as 'confused' and 'calm'.

Figure 6: Left: The pattern consisting of randomly patterned dots interpreted by both of us as 'confused'. Right: The pattern interpreted by both of us as 'calm'.

Figure 7: Some of the results showing the relationship between tactile-visual textures. Left: positive, Right: negative. Image credit: Parinda Sakdanaraseth.

As the final outcome, I decided to create a series of four booklets, which experimented with various techniques able to provide both visual and tactile layers. I chose Rainer Maria Rilke's Poems from 'The Book of Image' as a storytelling medium and picked 2-3 tactile patterns to illustrate the emotions and associations for each story.

Figure 8: The first booklet 'Fate', using the 'puffed-colour' screen printing technique. Tactile patterns featured include 'Insecure', 'Even' and 'Discontinued'. Image credit: Parinda Sakdanaraseth.

Figure 9: The second booklet 'Friend', using a paper-cutting technique. Featured patterns include 'Sad', 'Nervous' and 'Smooth'. Image credit: Parinda Sakdanaraseth.

Figure 10: The third booklet 'Love', used embossing techniques on translucent film. Textile patterns included 'Lonely', 'Frustrated' and 'Happy'. Image credit: Parinda Sakdanaraseth.

Figure 11: The fourth booklet 'Hope', used cross-stitching on paper. Textile patterns featured included 'Hopeless', 'Still' and 'Clear'. Image credit: Parinda Sakdanaraseth.

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A visual and tactile graphic design experiment: 'Touch Project'

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Guest post, by Parinda Sakdanaraseth Figure 1: A tactile-visual re-imagining of 'Wallpaper' magazine. Image credit: Parinda Sakdanaraseth. I am fascinated by the sense of touch. With my background in Graphic Design, I feel a joy in using the little power I have to experiment and play with different kinds of paper to create rich textures...

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https://www.designmantic.com/blog/15-talented-graphic-designer-moms/

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15 Talented Graphic Designer Moms | DesignMantic: The Design Shop

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On this Mother’s Day we highlight 15 of the most superb Designer Moms in the business today. Their design business have holds significant value for many.

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The Good Trade editors endorse products we've personally researched, tested, and genuinely love. Learn more about our methodology and business model here.
Style doesn't have a gender-why should it? We know it's possible to reject the framework of binary gender identity, and embrace what we and our communities want to wear without the stigma. We've been seeing a lot of inquiries into gender-neutral and gender-inclusive fashion and wanted to provide a one-stop shop for brands that lie at the intersection of gender inclusion and sustainability.

These 11 values-driven brands are looking out for the planet's wellbeing and belong in everyone's closets. Investing in brands like these helps to support those often overlooked by the mainstream fashion industry. Remember: Wear what you want, advocate for the rights and safety of others to do so, and forget the rest!

1. WILDFANG

WILDFANG started in a studio apartment in Portland, OR by a group of ex-corporate workers tired of asking the same questions about their clothes: Why doesn't this have pockets? Is there a button down that won't give me a boob gap? And why doesn't this have pockets? Their mission is to design clothes that don't conform to gender or stale fashion norms, and they have joined Pledge 1% to give back to good causes. And their super fly, unisex blazers all come with pockets.

2. TomboyX

TomboyX is a sustainable clothing company offering unisex undergarments for all shapes and sizes. These are designs that fit who you are, not who others tell you to be. The gender-inclusive company produces each piece without harmful chemicals, including using a water recycling program for water-based methods. In addition, TomboyX cares for the people along their supply chain by maintaining communication with all suppliers and factories. This brand hopes to change the systems within fashion on all fronts.

3. Big Bud Press

For colors and styles as vibrant as you are, check out Big Bud Press. This LA-based brand creates premium unisex goods from XXS through 6XL, prioritizing local sourcing and ethical manufacturing every step of the way. Because Big Bud's garments are genderless, each size is made to accommodate all body types-if you're not sure where you fall, just reach out. (The jumpsuits are a TGT team favorite!)

4. Riley Studio

Riley Studio is an eco-conscious apparel brand with a mission to do better by the planet and its people. The company prioritizes transparency, providing information on each supplier and factory within its supply chain. In addition, the brand sources recycled and regenerative materials from waste such as recycled polyester, ECONYL® Yarn, and Recover® Yarn. Riley Studio products come with a lifetime warranty for repairs and can take your old pieces to recycle into new ones.

5. Kirrin Finch

Kirrin Finch is a clothing company hoping to "do good in this world." The menswear-inspired brand produces its garments in partnership with fair and ethical factories and boasts close relationships with the people who are making each of its products. Kirrin Finch also utilizes low-impact dyes, all natural fabrics, and organic materials. Their mission is to make dapper style accessible to all, like we all deserve.

6. Origami Customs

Origami Customs is a handmade swimwear and lingerie company specializing in gender-affirming garments. In addition to custom orders (paused during COVID), the brand will alter or cut existing pieces for free for the best fit. With a focus on ethical manufacturing, Origami Customs partners with closed-loop and family-owned partners for deadstock, local, and recycled fabrics-all sewn in-house by a small team and a partner co-op. Find transmasculine, transfeminine & transfemme products, as well as binders, packing bottoms, and gaffs.

7. Olderbrother

Olderbrother is a conscious apparel company focused on keeping clothing natural. From the cultivation of its unique dyes using hibiscus or sustainable wood bark, to its attention to detail around sustainable materials, the brand is a one-of-a-kind ethical fashion shop. The company believes in supporting 'self-definition' and creating garments which can be worn by any body.

8. IJJI

IJJI is a genderless clothing brand based out of California. Since 2016, this fashion-forward brand has focused on natural fibers like wool, silk, cupro, and organic cotton to create beautiful and unique silhouettes. IJJI garments are produced near its local studio so the brand can vet production and ethics regularly. We love that you can filter by your preferred color or fabric!

9. Lonely Kids Club

Lonely Kids Club is a clothing brand that started out as a simple graphic t-shirt company. As the brand has grown, so has the product range. The not-so-small business prides itself on maintaining individuality and humor in its designs, while also touting sustainable and ethical practices. Lonely Kids Club feels passionate about mental health awareness as well as gender inclusivity too, and aims to create a safe space for both.

10. Industry of All Nations

Industry of All Nations wants to not just raise the industry standard but change it altogether. By putting manufacturing at the source of the raw materials (think cotton in the US, alpaca wool in Bolivia, natural dyes in India) they provide opportunities for the workers to grow, breed, and make their goods from start to finish. The brand sees this as a worldwide shift in sustainable industrialization, with the ethical standards of human production at its core. With a commitment to eco-consciousness and minimal waste, this is a company we can get behind. Try their naturally dyed tees or opt for the undyed version for a relaxed, natural vibe that never goes out of style.

11. Official Rebrand

Official Rebrand is a gender-free clothing brand concentrating on artistic exploration and eco-friendly practices. Each piece utilizes pre-worn items to create upcycled garments decorated with painted images of 'sinuous, genderless people, blinded by desire.' All products are one-of-a-kind and many can be customized. Official Rebrand feels strongly about making clothing that rejects societal norms and provides a freedom of expression for whoever decides to wear them.

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11 Gender Neutral Clothing Brands For Genderless Style - The Good Trade

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Isn't it time fashion extends beyond the limits of the binary? These sustainable brands are making clothing fit for every wardrobe.

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"Genderless" has become a buzzword in fashion - especially during queer festivities when brands are particularly eager to pitch themselves to LGBTIQ+ communities.

Models wearing robes made for booking.com by Australian designer Jordan Gogos, as a fundraising initiative for queer youth charity Minus18. Photograph: Booking.com

On 26 August, companies ranging from high-street retailer Dangerfield to Booking.com partnered with Australian queer youth charity Minus18 to release non-binary finery for Wear It Purple Day. Even Westfield shopping centres have a curated Wear It Purple collection.

But what does the genderless label actually mean, besides brands being able to double their market for every item?

Sometimes, it's not terribly clear. Often, genderless collections from brands like Bonds and Uniqlo are just unisex tracksuits and streetwear, rebranded as though it's radical for women to wear trousers in 2022. Rarely do they include gender-affirming gear like chest binders and tucking lingerie.

So when it comes to courting trans and non-binary customers, there is a danger that the gender-inclusive label can be empty pinkwashing - branding that lulls shoppers into a false sense of security without offering anything material such as fit, function, and knowledgable customer service.

In 2021, Afterpay - naming-rights sponsor of Australian fashion week - launched a " genderfree " online shop. The infinite-scroll interface features quotes from queer and trans luminaries like Alok Vaid-Menon ("Any article of clothing should be for anyone who wants to wear it") alongside items from brands like Levi's, Jeffrey Campbell, Birkenstock and Shein.

Yet inclusive intentions only stretch so far. Most of the items listed in the Afterpay shop only fit limited sizes and shapes, and once you click through to a merchant partner's site to complete your purchase, the gender binary resurfaces like a pop-up ad: the Levi's website, for example, is divided into men, women, kids and accessories.

Erin Spencer (they/them) and Bec Cerio (she/they) run Sock Drawer Heroes, a Sydney-based online retailer catering to the trans and gender-diverse community. As well as stocking gender-expression gear such as binders, gaffs, and packers, they also provide community resources and transition info.

"With anything we sell, we offer a certain amount of support to the person we're selling it to. It's great for companies to offer gender-free stuff but it could also give a young person the wrong idea about how they will be treated when they go and buy it," Spencer says. "They might walk in [to] buy this gender-free item and still get misgendered."

The Sock Drawer Heroes team wearing t-shirts made for Wear It Purple day. Photograph: Sock Drawer Heroes

For non-binary designer Rae Hill (they/them), it's always positive to see more brands thinking of trans and non-binary customers and more products at various price points.

"You get to this tipping point though, where big brands that don't really have the queer and trans experience start to capitalise on something that they're seeing as a niche," they say.

Often what that means on the runway, Hill says, is a "unisex look that essentially strips all the creativity and fun out of gender".

"I don't think we should take the gender out of fashion," Hill says. "Instead of 'genderless', there needs to be more of a fluidity of gender.

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"The gender of a piece of clothing is whatever gender you feel when you wear it, and not that you have to fit into the gender of that piece."

There are practical ways that designers can support fluidity and inclusivity. Hill's brand, Origami Customs, specialises in gender-affirming swimwear and underthings handmade in Montreal. There are no sizing limits, and each item can be customised for the individual: a pair of undies, for example, can be made in different fits, fabrics, gusset widths and closures to accommodate different mobility and sensory needs - and whatever's in your pants.

Models walk the Gogo Graham runway during New York fashion week in February 2022. Photograph: Fernanda Calfat/Getty Images

Hill describes their work as practical: clothes that you can "cut down a tree in" and wear to lounge by the pool, looking like a snack. Other trans designers include Gogo Graham, whose fantasy armour fashion, made from upcycled materials, draws inspiration from Studio Ghibli; Carmen Liu, a lingerie brand catering to trans women and girls; and Rebirth Garments, whose riotously patterned club-kid looks sit in sharp contrast to the bland minimalism that major brands often associate with gender inclusivity.

Beyond aesthetics, Hill urges customers to consider the core values embedded into the clothes we buy - from the social and environmental impact of manufacturing through to where corporate profits flow.

Cerio cites PayPal as an example of a company that will "whack a rainbow logo on" without backing it up. For years the company engaged in highly visible pride campaigns while simultaneously drawing criticism from LGBTIQ activists for their onerous policies around name changes; though in April of 2022, they committed to reviewing their policies after a US Senate inquiry. Worse still, she says, some companies court trans and gender diverse customers while donating to anti-trans politicians.

Fashions on the field, the longstanding racing fashion event, will replace male and female categories with 'best dressed' and 'best suited' at the 2022 Melbourne Cup. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Spencer suggests companies could start with staff training, and rejigging the gender categories instore and online. "The cheapest thing they could possibly do is just change the language," they say. That's already happening at a few major retailers (including Bonds and Dangerfield) and even at the races: the Melbourne Cup's long-running Fashions on the field competition announced on Wear It Purple day that it will do away with male and female categories, instead awarding the Best Dressed and Best Suited racegoers.

Rather than approaching trans and gender diverse communities as just another market to capture, fashion labels could also take the opportunity to rethink how they design for different bodies, the language they use around gender, and how their labour practices and manufacturing processes impact marginalised groups. Instead of a genderless label, it might mean refashioning the agenda to move beyond seasonal marketing campaigns, and into year-round inclusion.

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Non-binary finery: can genderless fashion move beyond a label?

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In Australia and beyond, big brands are flaunting their rainbow credentials, but trans designers and businesses urge a move beyond agenda-less spin

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https://zarzand.com/the-ready-romantic/physically-intimate-touching-games/

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Play the 5-Minute couples game. Crawl into bed and one at a time, knock off these bonding exercises: Minute #1: Just look into one another's eyes. No talking. Period. Minute #2: Pull the covers up over your head and whisper compliments to one another there in the dark.

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https://www.artsy.net/artwork/david-lachapelle-🤬-star-in-times-square-new-york

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David LaChapelle | Porn Star in Times Square, New York (1993) | Available for Sale | Artsy

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Available for sale from Staley-Wise Gallery, David LaChapelle, Porn Star in Times Square, New York (1993), C-Print

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http://www.jennidutton.com/motherlove.html

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Mother Love is a joint exhibition by artists Jenni Dutton and Ingrid Hesling.

Working in partnership for over two years, Ingrid and Jenni present a body of work that explores their relationships with their mothers through the use of domestic materials and textile techniques new to them both.

This collaboration has encouraged the artists to acknowledge the conflicts to be found within the Mother Love theme, revealing the discomforts as well as delights in these relationships and questioning where responsibility begins and ends.

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Mother Love is a joint exhibition by artists Jenni Dutton and Ingrid Hesling. Working in partnership for over two years, Ingrid and Jenni present a body of work that explores their relationships with their mothers through the use of domestic materials and textile techniques new to them both.

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https://icelandicartcenter.is/non-binary-non-gender-conforming-manifestations-at-la-biennale-arte-2022/

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Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca | Swinguerra, 2019 (excerpt)

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An excerpt of Swinguerra by Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, film commissioned for the Brazilian Pavilion of the 58th Venice Biennale, 2019

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Trecho do filme Swinguerra de Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, trabalho comissionado para Pavilhão do Brasil na 58ª Bienal de Veneza, 2019

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Swinguerra
2019
Video 2K, color, sound
21'00"
© Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca

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https://www.sarasejinchang.com

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Abandoned Margins: Policing the Black Female Body is an exhibition at the Chicago-based Woman Made Gallery that uses art to tackle the lack of diversity in how black women are represented in American popular culture and public discourse.

The Woman Made Gallery was founded to promote and support the work of female-identified artists. It provides exhibition opportunities and professional development. The exhibition title is a reference to American critical race scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw's work and literary legends such as Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni.

Curated by Janice Bond, Abandoned Margins is a group show presented through multimedia, installations, sculpture, film, printmaking, and photography. Frustrated by the portrayals of black women as "overweight and asexual, or hyper-sexualized and in need of less protection but more policing for moral failures", Bond assembled a cast of artists to use art to deal with the tired stereotypes of black females in the media.

The stereotypes of black females in the media first emerged in slave films with the heavyset mammy figure that would cook and care for children and family. It later developed into the jezebel figure of hyper-sexualized woman who cannot be trusted and today, popular culture is obsessed with the sapphire stereotype, which sees black women portrayed as rude, loud, and disagreeable. There have been various cries on social media claiming television shows such as Scandal starring Kerry Washington and How To Get Away with Murder starring Viola Davis contribute to the existing stereotypes of the sapphire.

"Abandoned Margins will feature works of art that seek to create a new and empowering visual language that challenges the supremacist systems under which black female bodies are marginalized and lack agency," says Bond.

Featured artists include Nakeya Brown, a photographer documenting the politics of beauty that surround black women, LaToya Hobbs, an artist using printmaking to address the ideas of beauty and cultural identity and Nature's Intent, a pair of hybrid artists made up of Abigail Lucien and Jessica Gatlin who frequently integrate installation, sculpture, and performance in their work.
"Abandoned Margins: Policing the Black Female Body is on show at Chicago's Woman Made Gallery until 25 February 2016."
Images via Afropunk and Dazed Digital.

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abandoned margins: policing the black female body

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An exhibition challenging the stereotypes that diminish black female bodies | Design Indaba

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Abandoned Margins: Policing the Black Female Body is an exhibition at the Chicago-based Woman Made Gallery that uses art to tackle the lack of diversity in how black women are represented in American popular culture and public discourse. The Woman Made Gallery was founded to promote and support the work of female-identified artists.