Radical art show exploring sex and gender opens in New York
- Text by HUCK HQ
A major new exhibition exploring gender’s place in contemporary culture is opening at New York’s New Museum this week. The show, titled Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon, celebrates radical artists who are looking beyond the binary and adopting “more fluid and inclusive expressions” of identity.
More than 40 artists working across film, video, performance, painting, sculpture and photography are set to be featured. This includes up and coming artists Sable Elyse Smith and Paul Mpagi Sepuya; activists Vaginal Davis and Nancy Brooks Brody; as well as more established names like Josh Faught and Reina Gossett. The work will vary from the political to the poetic.
“Representing no single point of view, and in some cases presenting productively contradictory positions, Trigger will assemble artists for their singular efforts in considering gender’s capacity to represent a more general refusal of stable categorisation—a refusal at the heart of today’s most compelling artistic practices,” a spokesperson for the museum explained in a statement.
Trigger will occupy three floors of the New Museum, and will be on view from September 27 to January 21, 2018.
Troy Michie, Arroyo, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Simone Leigh, Queen Bee, 2008–2012. Courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York
Christina Quarles, We Gunna Live With Water Fer Tha Resta Our Lives, 2017. Courtesy the artist and David Castillo Gallery, Miami
Tuesday Smillie, Street Transvestites, 2015. Textile, beads, buttons, bits, 48 × 83 in (121.9 × 210.8 cm). Courtesy the artist
Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Darkroom Mirror (0X5A1531), 2017. Archival pigment print, 51 × 34 in (129.5 × 86.4 cm). Courtesy the artist and Yancey Richardson, New York
Tschabalala Self, Loner, 2016. Courtesy the artist and Thierry Goldberg, New York
Tschabalala Self, Floor Dance, 2016. Courtesy the artist and Thierry Goldberg, New York
Troy Michie, Nobody Knows My Name, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Christina Quarles, Butt Hidden in Lacy Groves (Hell Must Be a Pretty Place, Fire n’ Brimestone Allright…), 2017. Courtesy the artist and David Castillo Gallery, Miami
Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon will run at New York’s New Museum from September 27, 2017–January 21, 2018.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
You might like
How Japan revolutionised art & photography in the ’60s and ’70s
From Angura to Provoke — A new photobook chronicles the radical avant-garde scene of the postwar period, whose subversion of the medium of image making remains shocking and groundbreaking to this day.
Written by: Miss Rosen
The lacerating catharsis of body suspension in Hong Kong
Self-Ferrying — In one of the world’s most densely packed cities, an underground group of young people are piercing their skin and hanging their bodies with hooks in a shocking exploration of pain and pleasure. Sophie Liu goes to a session to understand why they partake in the extreme underground practice.
Written by: Sophie Liu
Wu-Tang Clan forever, and ever
The Final Chamber — RZA, the spiritual leader of one of the most important hip hop groups of all time explains why they won’t rest until their legacy is secured.
Written by: Yoh Phillips
‘We’re going to stop you’: House Against Hate tap Ben UFO, Greentea Peng and Shygirl for anti-far right protest
R3 Soundsystem — It takes place on March 28 in London’s Trafalgar Square, with a huge line-up of DJs, artists and crews named on the line-up.
Written by: Ella Glossop
On The Mountain, Jamie Hewlett’s Gorillaz explore life after death
Going East — As everyone’s favourite animated band release their latest album, the visual artist behind it all catches up with Josh Jones to chat about the grief and spirituality underlining the record, as well as his learnings from how other cultures approach death and the afterlife.
Written by: Josh Jones
Lisette Model’s ’50s jazz pictures were nearly lost to McCarthyism
The Jazz Pictures — A landmark new book edited by Audrey Sands uncovers nearly 1,500 photographs from the genre’s golden age previously thought to be lost. Featuring the likes of Billie Holliday, Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong, they tell both a story of music and resistance in the face of oppression.
Written by: Miss Rosen
