Performing Gender

About

The works in the exhibition deconstruct, question and criticise the relationships between gender and society through theatrical performance, documentary filmmaking, and experimental film that blur the lines of male-female binary conformity. The body becomes a focus for debate about social boundaries and a quest for non-corporeal identity through which the work is expressed and experienced.

Featuring work by; Matthew Barney, Ana Mendieta, David Wojnarowicz, Ryan Trecartin, Marianna Simnett, Jacolby Satterwhite, Mandy Niewöhner, and Jake Moore.

Many of the artists in this exhibition have used their own body in their work to examine, question and challenge relationships between gender and society and are at the forefront of activism, protest and and a sort of ‘self mythology’ to explore new perspectives and identities through moving image.

The ways in which we behave is shaped by the cultures in which we participate and vary from one to another. Inquiries into the complexities of sex and gender transcend both time and place across various periods in time from the ancient civilisations in which gender was eschewed and embedded with mythology to 20th century feminist movements which addressed women in domestic and public spheres to now, whereby younger generations are emphasizing the fluidity of gender as being a space to freely self define and reject the gender binary. Hopefully this exhibition will provoke and provide viewers with an opportunity to explore their own feelings and concepts on a journey of self discovery.