Background
This artistic research explores the embodiment and performance of punk protest. It uses feminist methodology to explore the bio-socio-cultural terrains of art and computing. It was inspired by Donna Harroway’s (1984) ‘Cyborg manifesto’ and the cyberfeminist movement which emerged alongside the computing performance art of VNS Matrix (1991) and Cyberflesh Girlmonster (1995) by Linda Dement. The work speaks against the perception of ‘cyberfeminism’ as the sterile monoculture of the geek-hero (Daniels 2009), while responding creatively to the transgression portrayed by Tracey Emin’s work My Bed (1998).
Contribution
‘Cyberfeminist Bed Sheet Transfigured’ was a performance by Mauro-Flude and Dement. Dement initially mapped a non-linear terrain of punk, cyberfeminism and rebellious aberration as a rumpled unclean bedsheet. Mauro-Flude converted the sheet by flying it as a flag and unfurling ribbons affirming quotes from the stains of their authors. The performance was a poetic gesture of a genealogical record bearing smears and stains from productive encounters and convergences, connecting and adulterating across feminist time and predilections.
Significance
The work was shown at:
- ‘Women, Art and Feminism in Australia since 1970’ (ARC project) invited by Prof. Anne Marsh in 2018 – a satellite event of 'Unfinished Business: Perspectives on art and feminism' (ACCA, Melbourne);
- ‘Caught Stealing’ – invited by Jaime Tsai and featured with Soda_Jerk, Joan Ross, Fiona Hall at the National Art School Gallery;
- ‘Flesh and Bone’ (2019) curated by Kevser Güler in Operation Room Hospital Gallery, Istanbul;
- 2020 ‘Proclamation’ at Sydney Festival; and
- 2020 ‘Demain (Tomorrow)’ alongside Joan Ross (Bett Gallery, Tasmania).
The work received media coverage including The Mercury and Artlink. It was included in the Cyberfeminism Catalogue commissioned by Rhizome (NY, May 2019) and an article by Laboria Cuboniks (Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona, Feb 2022).
History
Subtype
- Performance (Other)
