Melanie Bonajo – Cosmic Cosmetics and Politics beyond Polarity

On the 27th of June artist Melanie Bonajo will present a performance in the format of a speculative press conference, the final episode of a threefold work she made for the exhibition Topsy Turvy.

How to make the best of our last days? The performance reflects in a humoristic way on the serious subjects which face humanity in the (nearby) future. By proposing alternative modes of being an attempt is made to find a poetic language to discuss the crisis of our times - the lack equality between people from different genders, races, classes and the exhaustion of our natural environment caused by human greed. The speakers propose to adopt a more female-centric world view. Supposedly 'natural' modes of behavior will be questioned and put to trial. Typically female characteristics seen as weaknesses, such as as empathy, intuition, irrational, sensitivity, nurturing will be reversed to strengths and inevitable elements to survive in the future.

It has been 44 years since the performance Aktionhose: Genitalpanik, in which Viennese artist VALIE EXPORT exposed her genitals at eye level to a seated audience in an art cinema in Munich, took place. In 2012 Melanie Bonajo (NL, 1978), and a group of participants who responded to an open call, re-performed VALIE EXPORT's pose from the iconic picture (except the Kalashnikov is absent and all genitals are captured in full colour).Bonajo staged the gathering in de new exhibition spaces of de Appel arts centre during the build up of the show. Females, but also males were welcome to contribute to this collective experience. Following this happening, which took place in a spirit of exchange and conviviality, a memorial has been installed in de Appel arts centre in combination with a video that gives an impression of the event.

VALIE EXPORT’s piece was an attack on the passive roles of women in cinema. In her re-interpretation of this feminist artwork, Bonajo tried to experiment with dissolving the divide between spectator and performer by ruling that everyone who came to the happening at de Appel arts centre had to participate and thus speak up against passivity as an attitude. Bonajo indirectly taps into the idea that carnival is a festival during which ‘all are temporarily equal’, a festival of change and renewal during which individuals and collectives take on different identities. She plays with the polarity between masquerade and exposure, hiding and showing yourself, body and thought, entertainment and critical reflection.

On the 27th of June the work will be completed by the press conference Cosmic Cosmetics and Politics beyond Polarity. For a detailed description see PDF-file on the left and for more info on the project in general see: www.GENITALINTERNATIONAL.com

Invited speakers; Annelies Bijvelds (cultural theorist), Merel Cladder (writer), Kinga Kielczynska (artist) and Janneke Raaphorst (artist)