aA

gender construction(s) |
4 films, an archive, a toilet, fish eyeballs, a gaze

2013
installation, archive, reading room, film, video, writing

en

A site-specific environment for readings and screenings occupying a space originally serving as an higher education classroom. Visitors can choose from four feature films to watch and use the reading room which offers a collection of literature, fiction, theory and non-fiction all related to sexuality, gender theory, queer politics, political theory, psychoanalysis, pornography, art etc. In addition, there is an archive of influencial self-published magazines, activist leaflets and events posters by LGBTQI+ organizations and individuals active in Athens since the 1980s. The site is intended to function as a space for anti-education or anti-propaganda.

Every two films screened here belong to a particular era; on the one hand two from the late '60s and early '70s, an intense period of political mobilization and libertarian movements for a 'sexual revolution', and on the other hand the '00s, the dawn of a new digital century.

The space exhibits include wall banners two video projections and an installation containing a qr-based short-video blog. These exhibits address my personal poetic response to the political themes mentioned.

The entire space is open for ten days inviting visitors to come and return, serving not only as an exhibition space but also as an open library, for knowledge exchange and discussions.

Films: Funeral Parade of Roses [1969] ,  Female Trouble [1974] ,  I.K.U.[2000] ,  The Raspberry Reich [2004]

​Four films,
4 stops

1969, 1974, 2000, 2004

Funeral Parade of Roses
Female Trouble
I.K.U.
​The Raspberry Reich
​

It is ​a purely phallic symbol
and
a purely feminine one.
​

en
​
ελ

​'gender construction(s)' embarks from the ideas of gender as a construct and "gender performativity". It aesthetically explores gender theory's social, political and subjective aspects by attempting connections with the digital space. The internet here is perceived as a space of indeterminacy, where identities become fluid and ideological proclamations turn into cyborg manifestos. At the same time search results, opinions and answers meet marketing strategies of  digital enterprise and corporate aesthetics. GC then reflects on the ways one can perceive oneself as an automated transformable machine able to be sexually encoded and perform various gender roles and sexualities; cyber-sexuality.

The gender [symbol] is printed on banners and is used as a dominant branding logo of this inter-personal archive. GC is a site-specific environment for reading and viewings –occupying rooms originally serve as classrooms in higher education. The visitor can watch four feature films and consult a bibliography of literature and theoretical texts related to sex, sexuality, gender theory, queer politics, political theory, psychoanalysis, pornography, art etc. The space remains open during office hours for ten days after its opening.
​

Το ‘Gender Constructions’ ξεκινά από τις έννοιες της κατασκευής και επιτελεστικότητας του φύλου και εξερευνά αισθητικά τις κοινωνικές, πολιτικές και υποκειμενικές προεκτάσεις της θεωρίας φύλου, επιχειρώντας συνδέσεις με τον ψηφιακό/διαδικτυακό χώρο. Η χρήση του κώδικα QR είναι μία μεταφορά για μία περιοχή κωδικοποιημένη, μια περιοχή σημασιών. Στο χώρο λειτουργεί μεταξύ άλλων ένα περιβάλλον/εγκατάσταση αντι-ενημέρωσης ή αντι-προπαγάνδας (ο χώρος χρησιμοποιείται κατά τα άλλα ως αίθουσα διδασκαλίας στην τριτοβάθμια εκπαίδευση) για θέματα φύλου και σεξουαλικότητας, που κινείται μεταξύ τέχνης, πορνογραφίας, ψυχανάλυσης, θεωρίας και πολιτικής. Ο χώρος παρέμεινε ανοιχτός για δέκα ημέρες, προσκαλώντας τον επισκέπτη σε ανάγνωση, συζήτηση, ενημέρωση, ενώ οι προβολές των τεσσάρων ταινιών γίνονταν ταυτόχρονα και ρυθμίζονταν κατά βούληση.//

performativity > gaze     
​gaze > performativity

 #eyes #gaze #gender #water #uncanny #reality #fish
​#embryo #fetus #organs #perversion #orgasm

​

​"Consuming my Image" aka "I'll eat you up, I love you so!" is a glitched narcissistic ode to self-presentation and to the double function of the image of the self; both as an affective source and as a mystical lure. It is about a seductive mirage of an erotic nature and a gaze upon the depths of anxiety and the vicious cycle of self-consumption/self-destruction. The video ultimately hints at the erotic nature of this narcissistic cannibalism in the era of digital love.

gaze-me 2012
installation, video blog, 2012
/ eyes/ gender/ assumption/ sexuality/ water/ uncanny/ reality/ fish/ embryonic/ fetus/ sexual/ organs/

Sexual identity sought and the digital space; the questions read in the video come from popular online psychological questionaires expected to define a user's sexual orientation. A digital reader and an online translator are used instead of my own voice each with a default male and female digital reader respectively.

© 2022 Athanasios Anagnostopoulos