Feminist Research Performance Project with Leena Raudvee
Performance at XPACE Gallery; curated by Maggie Flynn and Pam Patterson
2010
2010
How does one define Feminism? What is a Feminist? What does a Feminist do? How do you become a Feminist? These are just a few of the questions that we asked each other when presented with the challenge of performing Feminist culture. As self-proclaimed Feminists we have our individual narratives to answer our initial questions. As Feminists of different generations and varied cultures we’re interested in answering these questions with specific reference to the ‘now’. Since the inception of a Feminist culture many theories have circulated, many discussions have been had, and we now feel that it is time for a re-defining and/or re-culturing of our understanding of Feminist culture as it exists today.
As performance artists, a core element in each of our practices is the act of collaboration; interestingly enough both action and collaboration echo key practices of the Feminist culture. With this in mind, we will take an investigative approach and research the responses to our key question: What instructions can you give for a Feminist action? This question will be circulated via the Internet and other social settings to elicit a variety of responses. Once instructions are received, we will review each and select the ones that we can interpret and perform. Our initial research will include the responses to our question and still images documenting our process of acting out the instructions for Feminist actions.
The photographic documentation is of five performances done over the period of two days at XPACE Gallery for the Performing Feminist Culture Symposium November 2010.
As performance artists, a core element in each of our practices is the act of collaboration; interestingly enough both action and collaboration echo key practices of the Feminist culture. With this in mind, we will take an investigative approach and research the responses to our key question: What instructions can you give for a Feminist action? This question will be circulated via the Internet and other social settings to elicit a variety of responses. Once instructions are received, we will review each and select the ones that we can interpret and perform. Our initial research will include the responses to our question and still images documenting our process of acting out the instructions for Feminist actions.
The photographic documentation is of five performances done over the period of two days at XPACE Gallery for the Performing Feminist Culture Symposium November 2010.