Curatorial Statement:

Boys are doctors, girls are nurses; girls wear pink, boys wear blue; boys have short hair, girls have long hair. These are just a few examples of social constructions of gender. While some of these examples are a little out of date, there still exist many examples of how gender is manufactured, divided, and presented to the public. In fact, the relationships between time and gender, according to Judith Butler - a theorist of gender, sexuality and identity – are very much intertwined. She argues that gender is “instituted through a stylized repetition of acts… instituted through the stylization of the body and… understood as the mundane way in which bodily gestures, movements, and enactments of various kinds… [require] a conception of a constituted social temporality.” [1] In other words, these acts - or performances - rely on a current, socially constructed view of the performance of a gendered identity. Butler adds that “gender is an act which has been rehearsed.” [2]

“Performance” can be understood in several ways: “one involving the display of skills, the other also involving display, but less of particular skills than of a recognized and culturally coded pattern of behavior.” [3] Similar to the notions of gender, “all performance involves a consciousness of doubleness, through which the actual execution of an action is placed in mental comparison with a potential, an ideal, or a remembered original model of that action.” [4] Connections between performance, performance arts, and the performance of gender are unavoidable; successes and failures are gauged on constructed social expectations that are in a constant state of flux.

This exhibition contains performances which highlight or blur the binary model of gender – one that is either masculine or feminine. In addition, this exhibition will focus on the realm of performance-based video - artistic performances executed for and recorded on video.


[1] Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution.” Performance Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 2003, p. 154
[2] Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution.” Performance Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 2003, p. 160
[3] Carlson, Marvin. “What Is Performance”. Performance Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 2003, p. 70
[4] Carlson, Marvin. “What Is Performance”. Performance Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 2003, p. 71

Androgynòs - Julius Kaiser (2009)

Androgynòs (Androgynous) is a video performance by the artist and Drag King Julius Kaiser featuring Kaiser and Drag Queen Sharon Le Clerc. The performance helps to blur the lines between gender identity, showing gender as something that can be “assumed and relinquished as the situation demands - rather than master identities such as sex category.” [1] By highlighting the ritual constructing a gendered persona, Kaiser and Le Clerc show the tenuous relationship between sex and gender. Starting as one sex, adopting the dress associated with the opposite sex, and displaying a face half covered in facial hair, Kaiser shows how gender identity is something that can shift or cannot be limited solely to the binary models of gender.

Julius Kaiser is a performer and Drag King who has worked in the realm of performance art since 2007 with his partner Kyrahm. They have collaborated in works which they have dubbed “living paintings” (tableaux vivants) and “human installations.” Kaiser’s artistic performances explore the social roles of gender, power, and the relations that exist between them utilizing a Drag King aesthetic. Kaiser and Kyrahm’s Human Installation, “Gender Obsolescence,” was the overture at the 2008 Drag Festival in Berlin. The performance showed the FtM (Female to Male) transition as that of a solemn ritual. It was also praised at the tenth annual International Drag King Community Extravaganza (IDKE) in Ohio as being among the world’s best performances relating to gender exploration. [2]

[1] Candace West; Don H. Zimmerman, Gender and Society, Vol. 1, No. 2. (Jun., 1987), p. 128
[2] Julius Kaiser: Bio. Retrieved 2009-12-16.

Gestures - Hannah Wilke (1974)

“Gestures,” from artist Hannah Wilke, shows a relationship between gender performance and gender construction. One can relate this work, in more modern terms, to that of a culture that focuses on the concealment of age and the focus on beauty. The tugging, slapping, and pulling that Wilke does on her face could also suggest the way that women have historically been considered mere objects that can be shaped, formed, and molded at will. Wilke “unveils herself to implicate our gaze in her constitution as ‘flesh.’” [1]

Hannah Wilke was a painter, photographer, sculptor, and performance/video artist that dealt with social, political, and gender issues. Her body of works has spanned many different contemporary art movements including Abstract Expressionism (stress on creative process and individual gesture), Minimalism (the focus on the materiality of the art object), and Conceptualism (the practice of social criticism). She frequently uses her own body in her performances and artwork, dealing with issues of sexuality and gender. Wilke believed in physical and emotional self-exposure as an aesthetic and as a spiritual process of undressing the body and the soul. She has utilized many different materials in her artworks: chewing gum, clay, latex, lint, and chocolate – but her primary source of material, especially within the realm of sculpture, has been that of her own body as art object. Her aims with her performances have been to provoke critical responses from the public. Many of Wilke’s pieces are imbued with metaphoric, organic, and sexual implications brought about by the act of repetition. [2]

[1] Jones, Amelia. Body Art/Performing the Subject. University of Minnesota P, 1998, p. 169.
[2 ] David Winton Bell Gallery: Collections - Hannah Wilke. Retrieved 2009-12-16.

Hollywood and Vine - Colin Campbell (1977)

In this video, part of Colin Campbell’s “Woman from Malibu” series, Colin Campbell constructs, on video, the titular role of the Woman. [1] This video helps highlight the distinctions between an assembled character for a performance and that of a gendered identity. Nevertheless, Campbell's character of the Woman is represented consistently by voice and continuously revealed with the application of makeup and a wig. The fictional story that the "Woman" tells mirrors that of the relationship of the author and his feminine persona.

Toronto based artist Colin Campbell was one of the early pioneers of video art in Canada. Originally a sculptor, Campbell was first introduced to video in 1972 – around the time that the technology was beginning to emerge at a consumer level. “For me, video’s appeal lay in its potential for theatricality, performance and narrative,” said Campbell in an issue of Now Magazine. “The first subject of those things was myself. Gradually I started to turn the camera outward, developing characters and personae much different from my own.” Campbell’s videos have explored gender-bending scenarios using both comedy and tragedy as a backdrop. In his exploration of gender stereotypes, Campbell utilized what he called the “aesthetics of poverty” which consisted of informal styles and scripts, cheap sets, and a cast often made up of himself and friends. [2] Campbell died on October 31, 2001, in Toronto.

[1] Peggy Gale. “Hollywood and Vine” Invention Catalogue, Art Metropole, 1993.
[2] Colin Campbell: Video Artist. Retrieved 2009-12-16.

Latin Lover - Francesca Fini (2009)

LATIN LOVER from Francesca Fini on Vimeo.

“Latin Lover” tells the story of a man looking for a romantic evening alone with his girl. This seems to not only highlight the role of woman as abused, but also highlights stereotypes of men as abusers. The doll seems to represent the way that women are formed as objects of male gaze as well as showing ways in which women have been used and then “hung out to dry.” The repetitive duplication of the washing machine suggests that this act has taken place many times.


Francesca Fini is a director, author, digital artist, video artist, and a performer. Her digital artworks frequently make use of imagery relating to sex (blow-up sex dolls in particular) and gender construction. At 23, after a long stay in Los Angeles, she returned to her home in Italy where she wrote the novel “Thus Spake Mickey Mouse” where she tells the story of an Italian girl in Los Angeles. She produces television programs and documentaries for Italian television networks. She has been a passionate supporter of digital arts, becoming fascinated by the unison of networking and video for the dissemination of anything that is not “information.” In 1999, she produced some of the first Italian videos to be streamed over the internet. [1] She has documented performances by performance artists Kyrham and Julius Kaiser such as “Androgynòs,” which is also featured on this page.

[1] Francesca Fini. Retrieved 2009-12-16.

Tweezer Shave - Joseph Michals (2009)

In “Tweezer Shave,” Joseph Michals highlights the relationship between the illusion of status and the “cleanliness” of presentation. Facial hair and its acceptability have been in a constant state of flux. Facial hair is one of the most commonly associated visual aspects of the gendered male. Drag Kings like Julius Kaiser take great care to properly mimic realistic facial hair. With the act of pulling out each hair, a few hairs at a time, Michals shows the relationship between pain and personal presentation. Each hair is given equal weight and each pluck brings the artist closer to a “clean” presentation while the hair that remains shows how society can fluctuate on what is deemed a presentable appearance.

Michals cites that his inspiration for this video performance came from his jobs in retail work environments. Dress codes, especially in regards to facial hair, have always been a source of contention. Beards, goatees, and sideburns are acceptable, but only within fluctuating, imprecise requirements. Showing stubble has always been an issue, but an excuse of, “I’m growing a beard,” usually puts those complaints to rest. He questions the stability of personal appearance and the need for society to regulate such actions.

Joseph Michals is currently a film major in the Peck School of the Arts, part of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His body of scholastic works includes that of comedy, documentary, performance/video art, and experimental film/video. He frequently addresses issues of doubleness and identity in his video works. He is also uncomfortable talking about himself in the third person.