Does it get any better than this?

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

I am

If I Wasn't a Transsexual

Hear me roar

so good on so many levels.

an encounter with power

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.

punching the word radical in the face

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

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

the world according to susan sontag

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.

I want a dress up date

with Susan Sontag ->

le sigh

covering beyonce

Venus in Furs

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

1. because she's a genius

2. because she's HOT

Rent

The L Word

Sapphic soapie. Trecartin style. Swoon!

(Tommy Chat Just E-mailed Me) 2006, 

By Ryan Trecartin

Kitsune Collective Interview

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.

How to construct a female

A recreation of the mtf medical transition explanation

Joining the land of the blog

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!