Gender Demo

In collaboration with Calwyn Suominen, this video comments on the performance of gender, both how we can engage in this performance and subvert it. In one channel, I demonstrate how to install an overhead ceiling light fixture. In the other channel, Calwyn demonstrates how to do laundry. During each demonstration, the other gender is frozen in a three second loop: a metaphor for the boundaries of male and female roles that are reinforced in our daily lives. Two books Don’ts for Wives and Don’ts for Husbands are displayed on a pedestal in front of the projections. Originally printed in 1913, they complement the videos by showing how the performance of gender is an on-going act.