Judith Butler's Phantasmally They-SMR Shred (and related performances)
Post-performance selfie from 'Judith Butler's Phantasmally They-SMR Shred' on 22 June 2024 at the Alternative Arts Performance Festival at RMBL, Birmingham. I read one of the middle chapters from Judith Butler’s new book ‘Who’s Afraid of Gender’ in a hushed, whispery tone, and at a relaxed pace. I was aiming for that ASMR-type hypnotic effect, and it is always hard to judge what your own voice sounds like to other people, especially when miked up, but I think I achieved my aim. The audience were much more focused than I'd expected, which was lovely.
While reading I was applying layers of powder foundation, eyebrow pencil, eyeshadow, mascara and lipstick, using the open book as a mirror substitute. I used a foundation colour that was closer to my own skin colour than the ones I used in previous versions of the performance, but after just over half an hour of repeated applications it did not look very natural.
In this performance I wanted to address a potentially polarising subject in a soothing, non-confrontational way, and I think that a refusal to get obviously impassioned about something can be harder to argue with, or against. I think that most of what Judith Butler writes is perfectly reasonable, so why wouldn’t I also be reasonable?
The whole event was enormous fun, a great mix of music, art-making and audience participation, so keep an eye out on Instagram for future AAP events (https://www.instagram.com/alternative.arts.performance/)
While reading I was applying layers of powder foundation, eyebrow pencil, eyeshadow, mascara and lipstick, using the open book as a mirror substitute. I used a foundation colour that was closer to my own skin colour than the ones I used in previous versions of the performance, but after just over half an hour of repeated applications it did not look very natural.
In this performance I wanted to address a potentially polarising subject in a soothing, non-confrontational way, and I think that a refusal to get obviously impassioned about something can be harder to argue with, or against. I think that most of what Judith Butler writes is perfectly reasonable, so why wouldn’t I also be reasonable?
The whole event was enormous fun, a great mix of music, art-making and audience participation, so keep an eye out on Instagram for future AAP events (https://www.instagram.com/alternative.arts.performance/)
'Judith Butler's 50 Minute Shred' started life in 2014 as part of a multi-performance event in The Crossing at Central Saint Martins.
This was also around my peak as a competitive powerlifter, hence the singlet. I combined philosopher Judith Butler's notion of gender as performative with celebrity trainer Jillian Michael's intense fitness workouts to create a routine by which I could become more feminine and more fit at the same time. In the 'rest' intervals between kettlebell exercises I applied various kinds of make-up, looking out at the audience instead of into a mirror. After the performance I spent the rest of the day in the same make-up. This formed the template for various other solo, duo and group versions of Judith Butler's Shred - you can find them all on my Vimeo channel. I have also made physical flick book versions of a short loop of the video ('Judith Butler's Eternal Shred' 2015 & 2019) and you can see those at my studio on request.
This was also around my peak as a competitive powerlifter, hence the singlet. I combined philosopher Judith Butler's notion of gender as performative with celebrity trainer Jillian Michael's intense fitness workouts to create a routine by which I could become more feminine and more fit at the same time. In the 'rest' intervals between kettlebell exercises I applied various kinds of make-up, looking out at the audience instead of into a mirror. After the performance I spent the rest of the day in the same make-up. This formed the template for various other solo, duo and group versions of Judith Butler's Shred - you can find them all on my Vimeo channel. I have also made physical flick book versions of a short loop of the video ('Judith Butler's Eternal Shred' 2015 & 2019) and you can see those at my studio on request.