Estrange

Gender Demo at Eleanor Winters Gallery, York University

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.