BECOMING A MALE IN MIDDLE AGES,
2019
Becoming a Male in Middle Ages,
2019
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Installation views at Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy, 2019-20
Becoming Male in the Middle Ages
An installation in collaboration with HAUT.
2019. 35' loop, five chanell dolby surround sound piece with 8' video, beige colored carpet. English spoken.
Marwa and Vincent, and Carl and Andreas, are all couples in their mid-thirties. On the one hand, a heterosexual couple dealing with infertility issues; on the other, a homosexual couple trying to have a biological baby. When Carl decides to implant an ovary in the hopes of having a baby with his husband Andreas, Marwa must confront her feminist ideals against her best friends’ reproductive desire, as well as Vincent’s male fragility.
"The title Becoming Male in the Middle Ages comes from a book on medieval queer studies examining sexuality in that period. Here, the Middle Ages can be interpreted as a temporal transition in which terms such as “male” and “masculinity” are questioned. Moreover, the title both signals and contradicts the fact that the story is told from a woman's point of view. The strict normativity that influences desire and reproductive work becomes a place of contestation explored by the protagonists, who live through and embody recent discoveries in the fields of genetics and hormonal research, as well as their impacts on the present and near future of gender. The installation is composed of a multi-channel musical composition and a short silent video, not synchronized with each other."
- Marianna Vecellio, exhibition curator at Castello di Rivoli, 2019-2020.
An installation in collaboration with HAUT.
2019. 35' loop, five chanell dolby surround sound piece with 8' video, beige colored carpet. English spoken.
Marwa and Vincent, and Carl and Andreas, are all couples in their mid-thirties. On the one hand, a heterosexual couple dealing with infertility issues; on the other, a homosexual couple trying to have a biological baby. When Carl decides to implant an ovary in the hopes of having a baby with his husband Andreas, Marwa must confront her feminist ideals against her best friends’ reproductive desire, as well as Vincent’s male fragility.
"The title Becoming Male in the Middle Ages comes from a book on medieval queer studies examining sexuality in that period. Here, the Middle Ages can be interpreted as a temporal transition in which terms such as “male” and “masculinity” are questioned. Moreover, the title both signals and contradicts the fact that the story is told from a woman's point of view. The strict normativity that influences desire and reproductive work becomes a place of contestation explored by the protagonists, who live through and embody recent discoveries in the fields of genetics and hormonal research, as well as their impacts on the present and near future of gender. The installation is composed of a multi-channel musical composition and a short silent video, not synchronized with each other."
- Marianna Vecellio, exhibition curator at Castello di Rivoli, 2019-2020.