effigy/climax

under the influence of project runway

2010-03-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

now I just want to sketch the stefan's skyneedle costume as a fancy bitch gown.

here's a better picture

2010-02-24T17:39:00.000-08:00

of the holographic print.

1st three

2010-02-20T23:15:00.001-08:00

IRL they're sparkly holographic.

affirmation/care

2010-02-20T18:39:00.000-08:00

These are some starting points for bandaid design ideas:

bandaid fashion

2010-02-20T17:38:00.000-08:00

I've had this idea on the back burner for a while of putting out a series of bandaid designs. Mayyybe going for an OzCo Inter-Arts grant for collaborations between artists and non-arts organisations/companies to get them manufactured. In the meantime I'm making a bunch by hand.

Here's some other arts projects/artists/designers I've come across who have worked with bandaids. Please let me know if you come across any others!

Pflasterringe collection, bandaid inspired metal jewelry design by Kay Eppi Nolke.

Blingy diamonte bandaids by MAK.

Butch AS leather Bandaids by Scott Amron.

...and this limited edition bandaid series by designer Alexandre Herchcovitch, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson. I love the use of bandaid as material! These could easily be fabric designs:

babies

2010-01-21T02:37:00.000-08:00

these little guys will soon be joining the hotdog army, but with drag queen makeovers.

hotdog accessories

2010-01-21T02:10:00.000-08:00

uggggh, amazing by Bernard Willhelm.

and this find on etsy = birthday present to self:

Romance

2010-01-20T01:19:00.001-08:00

NOFX
Heavy Petting Zoo (1996)
Hotdog In A Hallway

She'll Have Another Piece Of Pie
She'll Have A Double Reuben Rye
She Kicks Hard At Eating Well
That's Why I Love Her

She's Got A Couple Of Pony Kegs
Her Arms Are Bigger Than My Legs
And When She Holds Me I Can't Breathe
That's Why I Love Her

I'm Her Butter She' My Bread
She's Like A Mobile Waterbed
And Hwen I Got On Top Of Her
I Can't Touch The Mattress

And When Her Flesh Begins To Sag
She's Like A Human Sleeping Bag
I Feel So Cozy Safe And Warm
She's My Insulation

I Always Know Where She Sat
And When She's On Me I Get Flat
Some Broken Ribs A Punctured Gut
That's Why I Love Her

Race, simulacra and weave

2010-01-19T01:29:00.000-08:00

at sfmoma

ugh

2010-01-12T23:07:00.001-08:00

poodle child safety harness.

gayest thing ever.

homoquilt, vicariousness and affirmation

2010-01-12T22:18:00.000-08:00

This is old news, but in 2008 some friends and I were doing a queer craft group in Brisbane. We did a bunch of patchwork bees and I quilted it all together for The Sportman's Hotel annual LGBT bake and craft auction. If I remember correctly it raised somewhere between $600-$700 for PFLAG and the Australian Transgender Support Association of QLD.

I bring it up now because I made this patch:

I was going to make a whole series of these penises ejaculating different affirmations and pet names. I'd still like to. But this is where the idea came from for the mustard font on the hotdogs.

I've been thinking a lot about vicariousness in trans experience, how it's something that I don't want to do, it doesn't make me feel great and is bundled up with essentialism and doesn't affirm my experience with my body/gender. I'm making some changes to the kinds of relationships and sexuality I have to not play into vicariousness (if you don't know what I mean, I'm talking about fetishising and experiencing the kinds of bodies I want via other people).

I'm realising that it exists in the art that I make and it's something I want to be aware of and confront. I kinda want to embrace it and hyper do it but in a way that critiques it at the same time. How to achieve that is something to think about.

If anyone wants to talk to me about vicariousness, I would love that!

Here's some of the other patches from the quilt:

by Jackson

by Marde

by me.

swans

2010-01-12T05:04:00.000-08:00

I made my friend Corey this swan (he likes swans) out of some of my orange hotdog fabric.

It made me realise I gotta have to either embrace or improve my messy sewing.

hotdog army

2010-01-12T04:27:00.000-08:00

Anyone that's spoken to me lately will know that I can't shut up about the joy/zen that hotdogs bring to the world. I need your help. Call it embrace/call it getting it out of my system, someone _may_ call it art. Think fondly of the archetype crazy old cat lady, but hotdogs, stuffed ones.

I WANT YOUR STUFFING.

Crappy old doonas, pillows, stuffed toys, etc.

In the vicinity of Melbourne.

I can pick up.

Message me on here and we can arrange details. My best offer so far has been chewed up dog toys.

So yeah, my vision is to make lots of hotdogs. Some in actual size and some in that size that's good for a full body cling to. Mustard affirmations and here's some of the fabric I got so far, the vision is LURID:

I'm mostly excited about combinations of clashing ugly oranges.

The plan is to sell them at the Antiverse Market and maybe I'll try etsy. I'll post when stalls are happening.

I just got access to a sewing machine, thanks to Holly Fluxx! So hopefully I'll be pumping them out soon

Wheat _AND_ Meat!

I've been watching hotdog eating competition videos on youtube for inspiration. This cringe-humour clip might help explain also:

aspiring post-bitter

2009-11-18T23:32:00.000-08:00

BITTER:

POST-BITTER:

how it's gonna be

2009-11-09T03:02:00.000-08:00

wearable Stefan Skyneedle suit
I Love What I Hate show with Kt Spit
Harness making workshops umm, February?
Participation Strategy research!
Hot dog lap dance service
My Own Private Idaho dreamscape recreation
There's a stocking lensed film clip star in every Sporties regular

Hidden Mansfield Tapes Installation

2009-11-08T01:09:00.000-08:00

Exhibited at CabaretQ, 2009.

really, this was mostly about camp.

2009-11-07T23:13:00.000-08:00

Collage and acrylic paint. 2.2 x 3m. Commissioned by Brisbane Festival forDrawn Togetherexhibition at West End Live

I was approached by Brisbane Festival to create Changing Landscapes for their Drawn Together project to be exhibited at West End… LIVE. In this project, 4 artists were given a digital story of a long term West End resident to respond to. In these interviews, the residents shared anecdotal stories of the changing cultural, economic and physical landscape of West End and the impact this had on their lives.

The project aimed to demonstrate that like physical elements such as architecture and geology, stories and culture inform a sense of place. The project aimed to highlight that West End’s cultural landscape is undergoing radical changes as a result of physical redevelopment. The stories of indigenous elder Aunty Mulinjarli, queer cultural instigator Shane Garvey and redevelopment resister Janet Richards were included.

The artists were given one hour to work with a 2.2m x 3m canvas in public view during the festival, during which the public were given access to headphones so they could listen to the digital story while watching the artist’s response unfold.

I was briefed on the story of Janet Richards to respond to, who is most well known for resisting the acquisition of her family home for the redevelopment of the West End Coles complex and neighbouring apartment block. Originally I wanted to explore the role that local and state government cultural renewal initiatives play in suburban gentrification, such as the redevelopment of the Cultural Centre and Brisbane City Council’s current funding programs for ‘happenings’.

I researched artist responses to arts gentrification, such as There Goes The Neighbourhood and The London Particular. I started planning a visual case study of international examples of cultural renewal initiatives that had neglected issues of social exclusion and the responses of local artists in addressing these problems.

However when I received the digital story, Janet Richards talked very little about her legal battle with the development company over acquiring her home. Instead, she talked about changes in the architectural landscape from the mid 1800s until now over the stretch of land between West End’s Absoe building and King George Square.

I discarded this preparation and switched to collage plans of a camp take on the recent refurbishment of the Stefan Skyneedle, kitsch Tourism Queensland imagery, while using an image of Sophie Lee’s character, Tracy, from The Castle to reference Janet Richard’s legal battle.

Pedal to the Metal

2009-11-07T23:08:00.000-08:00

For Abbie x

Does it get any better than this?

2009-10-16T20:21:00.000-07:00

Bronski Beat, Eartha Kitt, Divine & John Waters in one!

EMBRACE YR INNER LIBRARIAN!

2009-10-16T06:16:00.000-07:00

ZINE LIBRARY NEW CO-ORDINATOR ROLE

SEEKING EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

I am looking to hand over my role as the Copy and Destroy Zine Library’s coordinator to someone with an investment in zine culture. This is a really fun project! It’s a great opportunity to meet other zine makers, see their work and learn some project and event management skills. I will be available for support during the handover.

This is an unpaid position unless you are successful with a funding application where a wage is budgeted. The new coordinator is encouraged to seek out and stock zines that they think are artistically, culturally and politically interesting to them individually and the people that access the library.

EMAIL ME ASAP FOR A FULL EOI DESCRIPTION

warren dot gracie at hotmail dot com

EOIs due Fri Nov 6.

Young people are especially encouraged to apply.

PLEASE CIRCULATE!

I am

2009-10-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

If I Wasn't a Transsexual

2009-07-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

Hear me roar

2009-06-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

so good on so many levels.

an encounter with power

2009-06-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

I finally got this book in my life! I found it in the back corner of a 2nd hand book store, I have been on the hunt for the longest time. HAPPINESS.

It focusses on lesbian art in the late 80s - early 90s in Australia. INSPIRATION.

Lesbian Art: an encounter with power, by Elizabeth Ashburn. 1996.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm a lesbian in a trans-boy's body.

aspiring post-bitter motherfucking MONSTER

2009-06-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

for jackson,
and anyone else who's ever had their fairytales sent to the slaughter.

HARNESSED

2009-06-13T02:12:00.000-07:00

With a little funding help, I'm starting the HARNESSED project. I will be running workshops from August, talking about sexuality, fantasy, safer spaces... and making chest harnesses! out of whatever materials you dream up that reflect your sexuality! Down with leather protocols! (unless, of course that is your thang).

I can supply materials. All I ask of you is that you donate your harness for the duration of the project so they can all be exhibited at the QArts Exhibition later this year. Then it is all yours for happy flagging.

I got excited and made mine already. Considering my infatuation with all things CAMP, I went down the sequined track:

Workshop details soon to be announced. If you are private about these things, I can arrange 1-on-1 workshops. Contributions can be anonymous. Contact me if you are interested: warren dot gracie at hotmail dot com

HO student show

2009-06-11T17:42:00.000-07:00

This is the first round of images, shown at my end of semester student show. The pool of contributions is growing and I'm looking into breaking them up into different series. Read a viewer's reflection at Born Whore.

Selina, Kitt and Queenie.

I will be doing shows! So far, on the potential horizon is the QArts exhibition later this year (Bris), at Debby Doesn't Do It For Free and Mardi Gras (Sydney) next year. Also I'm applying for a show at the Sex Worker Art Festival (San Francisco) & the Queer Art Festival (San Francisco) next year.

aaaahahahaha

2009-06-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

There is a storm being caused by gay marriage and we are all in serious trouble. This is a parody of NOM's Anti-Gay Marriage PSA.

A Gaythering Storm from Jane Lynch

it WILL be choreographed. and it'll be good.

Watch the original http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp76ly2_NoI&e

punching the word radical in the face

2009-06-05T02:49:00.000-07:00

and don't even think about blaming it on testosterone.

Nobody gives a shit that you don't believe in gender.

HO extension & female involvement

2009-06-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

EXTENSION!!!

Originally the deadline for Ho submissions was May 30 2009, but I've extended it! I would really like for this to be an ongoing project.

If you are planning on contributing, shoot me an email so I can know that they're coming. Also, I am really open to any conversations about the project.

warren dot gracie at hotmail dot com

See the earliest post tagged with 'ho' for submission requirements and background.

CONSIDERATIONS

One conversation I've had recently is about the lack of contributions by women, t-girls, sistagirls, trans-feminine spectrum id-ing folks, and how I address this with the project. One suggestion was that I define the images as of "trans-masculine sex workers". However, I have included trans-female people in my call-out and I think it is an interesting point of discussion that so far, none of the contributions have been of this identity.

By redefining the project, I think this could be silencing their lack of involvement. This could be for a million reasons, some of which I could guess but would really like to not speak on their behalf considering this is not my experience. I would really love to hear any feedback from trans-female people on the project in general, or ideas about how their experience can be included in the project. There are a lot of options for this: audio, presenting writing, interviews, etc...

However, remembering that the point of this project is about the experience of sex working as your birth assigned gender, with a transgender identity. So I would like discussion to be around this as a point of inclusion/exclusion.

It is possible that the promotion or nature of the project is not inclusive of trans women since there is a history of trans women being socially excluded from the homo, dyke and trans-masculine communities I am a part of. This is a problem that should not be perpetuated. So any feedback on addressing this as a point of exclusion is SO WELCOME also.

xxx LOVING THE CONTRIBUTIONS SO FAR. THANKS SO MUCH TO YOU ALL WHO HAVE SENT PHOTOS IN xxxx

gutz, gore, mutant lambies

2009-06-03T21:21:00.000-07:00

The GUTS GORE photoshoot by Cyd & I can be found in Slit Magazine's new Weird Science issue!

photos by Okapi

Set in an Industrial Abitoir. A Mad Scientist discects our freak of nature, exploring the mechanisation of animals in the industrial meat complex and experimental science. We are using this story to address the pathologisation and invasive curiosity of transgender people's bodies.

Contact me if you're in Brisbane if you would like a copy of this issue or back issues of Slit. 10 bucks. Or if you're interstate/o.s contact Slit directly or check out their website for stockists.

winter

2009-06-03T03:23:00.000-07:00

the world according to susan sontag

2009-06-03T03:08:00.000-07:00

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CAMP AND IRONY:

55. Camp taste is, above all, a mode of enjoyment, of appreciation - not judgment. Camp is generous. It wants to enjoy. It only seems like malice, cynicism. (Or, if it is cynicism, it's not a ruthless but a sweet cynicism.)

Camp taste doesn't propose that it is in bad taste to be serious; it doesn't sneer at someone who succeeds in being seriously dramatic. What it does is to find the success in certain passionate failures.

56. Camp taste is a kind of love, love for human nature. It relishes, rather than judges, the little triumphs and awkward intensities of "character."

. . . Camp taste identifies with what it is enjoying. People who share this sensibility are not laughing at the thing they label as "a camp," they're enjoying it. Camp is a tender feeling.

sparkle fetish

2009-06-03T02:31:00.000-07:00

Glitter babe Okapi put me onto Leigh Bowery inspired makeup artist Pat McGrath.

I don't know much about McGrath, but her work in the context of big name fashion (Galliano, Dior...) is a little reminiscent of madonna rips off vogue culture. But the artistry IS inspiring. I'm that step closer to shaving off my eyebrows.

I want a dress up date

2009-06-03T00:46:00.000-07:00

with Susan Sontag ->

Ho: Trans sex workers who make me squirm

2009-05-31T17:26:00.000-07:00

Juliet November, amazing sex worker blogger/intellect extraordinaire, has written a post about her experience of viewing the Ho images at my end of semester student show.

You can read about it at Born Whore. ->

President Carter,

2009-05-28T17:47:00.000-07:00

Here is the 2nd in the text based video works I was required to do as part of my BFA. They were to be made in LiveType. Again, I feel like there are heaps of limitations with this program. It was great to learn - it will be useful for credits and captions but don't see too much potential to work creatively with it.

Text from 'Blood and Guts in High School' by Kathy Acker.

I originally planned to use this text for a nerd babe performance installation collaboration with Okapi of a dusty library backroom, called The Restricted Section for the Little Fish 'Unleash the Beast' show. Hopefully one day it will still happen!

le sigh

2009-05-21T04:47:00.001-07:00

covering beyonce

Venus in Furs

2009-05-18T00:13:00.000-07:00

Video/performance referencing the historic S&M novel 'Venus in Furs' by Leopald Sacher-Masoch (1870). The word 'masochism' was derived from the author's name. Something to be remembered for!

Glittery. Gay. Historal recontextualisation. Prancing. Anything that makes me flap my hands like a nancy from being overwhelmed by the cultural references, i gotta LOVE IT.

The details for this video are unknown, possibly choreographed by Michael Clarke & Leigh Bowery-esque costumes by Brenton Heath-Kerr.

Nina Hagen LEATHER DADDY

2009-05-12T03:09:00.001-07:00

1. because she's a genius

2. because she's HOT

HO update

2009-05-11T18:40:00.000-07:00

There have been some concerns raised around 'outting' that could incur by contributing photos, outting either as trans or as a sex worker.

Here are some photos of myself that i'm possibly using for my contribution, ones which you can't tell that i'm the subject. I'm also toying with the idea of using identifiable pictures, but i like that there is an option of not outting myself to the general public. I'm expecting to receive contributions that are both identifiable and non-identifiable.

Some other ideas are to do shots of you from behind (like an over the shoulder, into a mirror, no flash shot), or body part close ups, or headless shots. Also, avoid using flash where possible as a general rule.

Remember, the deadline is May 30 2009. Feel free to shoot me an email if you want to discuss photo plans, straying from the format i've asked for, any concerns or if you need an extension. warren dot gracie at hotmail dot com

gold diggers of 1933 : musical solution for the economic crisis

2009-05-08T17:57:00.000-07:00

Sex work paying the rent during a post-war economic crisis. Sound familiar?

Rent

2009-05-08T04:28:00.000-07:00

Props to predecessors

2009-05-04T17:02:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this artist, Laura Parnes who has made video works of Kathy Acker's novel 'Blood and Guts in High School'!

This novel has had a HUGE impact on my understandings of representation, sexuality, feminism and form. I'm working on a text video series at the moment using excerpts where Acker uses a style of feminist prose to tell stories of sex, violence and manipulation to pick apart the threads of political hierarchy. Metaphor as effigy. The intellect of Kathy Acker is seriously like internal fireworks exploding.

"Blood and Guts in High School" (video installation, 2004-06, 40:00) by Laura Parnes.

An excerpt of her film can be seen here.

The thing that I like about Laura Parnes's video is that it honors the impact that Kathy Acker's work has had on queer and feminist artists. Her style and political force is visible in a lot of art work produced today by young queers and women, (for the Kathy Acker dorks out there) such as holly fluxx's zines & lyrics, eg. there are parallels in the style of thier review of Gio Peter Black and Acker's stories of New York City bars. I appreciate how Laura Parnes's video is something of a literal tribute.

In the same vein, I am LOVING Yoko Ono's collaborative remix album 'Yes, I'm a Witch' with Le Tigre, Peaches and Cat Power.

HO: TRANS SEXWORKER PHOTOGRAPHIC PROJECT

2009-05-04T06:39:00.000-07:00

CALL OUT FOR SUBMISSIONS

This photographic project will document transgender sexworkers who work presenting as the gender they were assigned at birth and no longer identify as. I will be applying to exhibit the series at different events in Australia, mostly at queer and sexworker arts events and also online.

Since the photos will be released publicly, contributors will have to be comfortable with disclosure to some extent. However, I will not use your legal name and I’m open to negotiating measures to protect your identity if you would like to contribute but have privacy concerns.

To participate, you will have to consider the implications of the associations of your image and the content.

I am a transgender hustler who works as a lady babe. Primarily, this pays the bills. It also has been both affirming and dysphoria exacerbating, a result of limited financially viable representation options, the safest option, performative and an opportunity to max out lessons in the behavioral codes of feminine wiles. It’s creating a stronger affiliation with femmes and my class background. I feel moments of concern for my safety if a client recognises my face on the street and feels betrayed, and moments of satisfying queer subversion when being told, “You’re the hottest chick I’ve ever seen”, accompanied with a wad of cash.

I’m interested in documenting the process of embodying the rentboy/stripper minx/mistress/etc within, the transformation, the relationship that incurs with our bodies, the culture of trans people sexworking to pay for their medical transition, the connections between transgender identity and class, sexwork and class. I am really happy to have any discussions about representation.

The requirements:

Email self portrait photographs (taken by you, either by holding the camera or with a self timer) taken while you’re in your ho persona, preferably at work but about to head to work is fine too. Around 5 photos would be great. Send to warren.gracie@hotmail.com
Do not change the resolution settings on the photos
Working photographs taken in the past are fine if you are not currently working
Give me the following info in the body of the email:

your working name (this can be the one you use or one made up for the project)

your contact info

the text “I consent to the use and publication by Warren Gracie of the attached photographs of me”. Include any conditions you have (eg. No online publishing)

A short blurb on who you are/your experiences or thoughts on working as the gender you were assigned at birth/why you wanted to participate (this part is optional)

The deadline is May 30 2009.

This project is inclusive of pre, post and non medical transition transgender people, including but not limited to female-to-male, male-to-female and genderqueer transgender people. If you identify as trans, you are welcome to participate.

The term ‘sex-worker’ is an umbrella term, including but not limited to dance, full-service, porn, domination, submission, fetish, gf/bf experience and peepshow workers.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

warren.gracie@hotmail.com

Peeping Tomboy

2009-04-10T04:16:00.000-07:00

I have a show coming up! Jackson Badger & I are rehashing a new & improved Tomboy performance installation at the Perv Queerotica Film Festival opening night. Thurs 23 April 7-10pm at the Red Rattler, Marrickville.

If you come along, I would love to hear your feedback.

Also, the festival program looks great! Check it out: http://www.pervfilmfestival.org/ (scroll to the right to see program details).

(Stills, 2007. Photos by Marde Tozer).

The L Word

2009-04-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

Sapphic soapie. Trecartin style. Swoon!

(Tommy Chat Just E-mailed Me) 2006,

By Ryan Trecartin

Kitsune Collective Interview

2009-04-08T03:31:00.000-07:00

Here is an abbreviated interview I did with the ABSOLUTELY INSPIRING Kitsune Collective in 2008. The full article text can be found in Slit magazine's Weird Science issue.

Warren chats to the Kitsune Collective, an artist initiative founded by Eden St James and Alicia King. Whilst in Holland the pair worked at Vrij University, Amsterdam, to produce a body of work entitled 'go forth and multiply.' This research project involved growing a tumour cell line (HE_LA) over small glass figurines and then subsequently infecting the tumour with HIV. A process of staining the virus blue was embarked on through the use of protein markers and the results were small glass sculptures that showed to the naked eye where the virus had taken hold in the tumour.

"Biotechnology is highly fetishised in many ways and it’s always exciting to push the idea of what constitutes a legitimate artistic practice. The objects and documentation stand on their own as artworks, but it is the process behind the work that makes it significant.”

W: What do you think the potential impact of the Kitsune collective’s work could have on the scientific community?

K: Upon our initial research for the go forth and multiply project, it became apparent that scientists working within the field of immunology and exclusively with HIV have very narrow fields of focus and due to funding restraints and the need to produce specific outcomes.

It astounded me that HIV has been extensively researched for the past 27 years, yet scientists still do not have any formal documentation of the HIV life cycle. Only recently did immunologist Thomas Hope of Chicago, who the Kitsune Collective collaborate with, produce time-lapse video that details the progression of the virus from initial infection through to total cell death.

I would assume that observing how the virus infects cells and mutates would be paramount to research outcomes but it has taken decades for researchers to produce significant documentation. Collaborations with bio-medical practitioners and artists will only widen the scope of potential research outcomes.

W: What could an artistic exploration of HIV provide to the positive community?

K: It is my belief that any and all, creative works surrounding the issue of HIV are significant. Artists provide the platform so that the unvetted expression of HIV issues and concerns can be pondered, discussed and validated.

W: How is HIV/AIDS a politically and poetically loaded health issue?

K: The reasons that we have chosen to work with HIV vary for both Alicia and Eden. For Alicia it is a continuation of her practice as a bio-artist and social commentator but for Eden it is a process of understanding and collaborating with the virus that he has lived with for a significant number of years.

Particularly within western queer culture the HIV virus has become a complex entity within itself. In addition to 'gift giving' and 'bug chasing', HIV positivity can be seen as a validation of sexuality, and entry to a specific community. Resulting from issues relating to the sexual element of HIV transmission, HIV/AIDS education and awareness often comes under a banner of abstinence and/or ignorance, as in turn, does the HIV positive body, both of which then exist in a state of blurry unease.

W: What are some key bioethical considerations you apply to your work and have to respond to?

K: The most significant ethical challenge for us was that we couldn’t use Eden’s virus/tissue, due to our minimal timeline and lengthy health and safety issues. So, alternatively we used the he_la cancer cell line, derived from the cervical cancer of African-American woman Henrietta Lacks in the 1950’s.

Henrietta’s tissue was taken without her consent, and has been the main human cell line used internationally since then - there’s literally tonnes of her cells in Laboratories all around the world. We’ve used her cells in biological artworks before, to focus on her story in addressing issues of individuals and ethics, though intentionally infecting Henrietta’s tissue with HIV-1 was an intense experience, as I’m sure it’s something she would never have chosen to do with her body.

So while seeking to empower one community the project inadvertently disempowered another. It’s never clear-cut. Every use of biological materials has its own layering of complexity and paradox.

W: What do you think are some of the potentials of the exploration of biotechnology for the queer community and self-determination of the body?

K: Democratization of exclusive skills and knowledge, such as those held by the biosciences can be key in giving individuals understanding and empowerment. For queers and HIV positive bodies the issue of physical bodily control is a huge one.

Governmental stances towards HIV immigration in Australia conjure a view of the HIV positive body as a tool of biological weaponry, which needs to be geographically confined. Similarly, transitioning queers are subject to a whole range of political and governmental powers dictating the form and gender their bodies can take.

Accessing a high security AIDS Laboratory to infect human tissue with HIV-1 was a pretty awesome achievement for a couple of stray artists. Living in a culture in which an individual’s bodily material belongs to institutions amidst a thriving tissue economy, where gender fluidity must battle the hard-wall of bureaucracy, and in which a sex act is portrayed as an act of bioterrorism - explorations in biotech can open alternative experiences and representations of the body, outside of those which are dictated by dominant culture.

DISTRO!

2009-04-07T04:40:00.000-07:00

If you're based in Brisbane, get in touch if you would like copies of the following:

Slit 'Weird Science' issue
back issues of Slit magazine
Spunk magazine issue #1
52 Pick Up decks of cards

Slits are also available at Avid Reader.

To check these things out go to:

www.slitmag.org

www.showusyourspunk.com

52 pickup

email me at warren dot gracie at hotmail dot com to get prices & pick up info.

Inflatable Architecture

2009-04-06T02:38:00.000-07:00

Check this genius out: Michael Rakowitz.

In this project, paraSITE, he designed portable housing that could be inflated easily by attaching onto the exhaust from building heating vents. A series of the houses were designed to meet different folk's needs & wants. The project directly tackles issues of gentrification, race, class & public space.

This is a really great example of Social Practice.

Read the really inspiring interview at: Art matters

Collier Schorr & recreation

2009-04-02T22:05:00.000-07:00

Messing with gender & Andrew Wyeth's Helga portraits.

war tactics

2009-04-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

This is a little text work done on livetype. It will be in a series of 3 screens. The other 2 will both be pieces of writing that use sex & desire to highlight & disassemble power structures in society. Basically, power smut. I'll be using excerpts that I think particularly challenge our sense of sex-positivity. Ones that confuse whether it's hot or messed up, or are maybe too close to home. I'm also linking these to this track I'm on about with climax as a form of effigy and the political force behind this. This screen will be for putting those pieces of smut into that context.

I'll post the other 2 screens when they're closer to being finished.

Original words by the swoon-inducing genius that is Kathy Acker (from Blood and Guts in High School).

I'm new to livetype and finding it pretty limiting and lost as to how to use it to achieve an aesthetic that works with the use of the text. I kind of hate the fades & effects but don't really know where else to go with it. Unfortunatly, it has to be made on livetype to count as assessment. I would love any suggestions on how to change it/improve it/aesthetic ideas & livetype program tips. Also, any feedback on whether it's too fast/slow, etc... I'm also considering adding audio for folks who have trouble reading.

How to construct a female

2009-03-31T03:32:00.000-07:00

A recreation of the mtf medical transition explanation

Camp

2009-03-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

effigy

Ef"fi*gy\, n.; [L. effigies, fr. effingere to form, fashion; ex + fingere to form, shape, devise. See Feign.] The image, likeness, or representation of a person, whether a full figure, or a part; an imitative figure.

To burn, or To hang, in effigy, to burn or to hang an image or picture of a person, as a token of public odium.

cli.max

1. the highest or most intense point in the development or resolution of something; culmination

2. a decisive moment that is of maximum intensity or is a major turning point in a plot

3. a) a figure consisting of a series of related ideas so arranged that each surpasses the preceding in force or intensity

b) the last term or member of this figure

4. the stable and self-perpetuating end stage in the ecological succession of a plant or animal community

Joining the land of the blog

2009-03-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of examining the kind of work I want to do and there are 2 underlying themes: screaming queer and social engagement. There are a few things that I want to achieve with this blog:

1. Exploring some ideas around the collision of camp and simulacra.

2. Discussion about the world of Social Practice.

3. Posting some of my art work in progress for affirmations and feedback.

I’ll be posting info and examples that’ll clarify some of the language I’m using here.

Each week or so I’ll post an example of Camp Simulacra and Social Practice. I would love any discussion, dorking out, recommendations of readings, revelations and sparks flying over this stuff. I’ll post my own work as it happens and I definitely want your comments.

ON CAMP SIMULACRA. AKA EFFIGY/CLIMAX

Simulacra is a particular form of reproduction that results in climax & effigy. There’s a lot out there about either concept. But here is 1 of the key connections I’m making: rather than rejecting binaries and socialised norms by attempting to create cultures/identities that are a slate wiped clean of socialization, camp appropriates and plays with the very restraints camp rejects to disassemble the conventions they intend.

It places those restraints in contexts that render them void. High camp = fierce intervention. I'll be posting some writing and examples of artwork that clarifies & achieves the effigy/climax.

Then, this beautiful thing happens:

Jean Baudrillard argues that a simulacrum is not just a perverted reproduction of the real, but that the embodiment of it makes it a truth in its own right.

So, all this talk about camp is, for me about 2 things: understanding the potential of camp as a political force and appreciating the ways it exists in my subcultures/communities – as our own aesthetic and expression of identity. Channeling camp tradition.

Romantic, I know. But then so is the nature of camp.

Now I know you all are cynically thinking about politically vapid or conservative examples of camp (Mardi Gras Nations United, EG NO.1!) but I want to talk here about the process and examples of camp with radical intention.

Camp Simulacra eg. 1:

ON SOCIAL PRACTICE

This is where you & me as artist and you & me as community builders can maybe make some magic. Where, as an organizer/community participant you don’t lose yourself as an artist. The two become inseparable and the union of the two becomes intentional.

One definition of ‘Social Practitioner’ has been coined as: social documentarian with agency. Social change is understood to be a continuous and creative process, never A to B. It’s definitely about art of everyday life.

So now there’s been a term coined and a bunch of theory written, maybe we can develop a language around this and strategise ways to use the principles more intentionally with our projects.

Social Practice link no. 1: (some background)

MFA in Social Practice

Thanks for reading. If you’re interested in this stuff, talk to me!