Gender: A Performance by Steven Fenn

William Shakespeare told us that all the world is a stage and Judith Butler said gender is a performance, why not take that literally? Welcome to Gender: A Performance, the international phenomenon hits the stage and it's starring you, and you, and you.

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This project is inspired by the Museum of Trans Hirstory and Art, its videos, and lesbian performance art, taking an unserious and fun approach to an aspect of identity and presentation that is serious but often made over-serious. This is also inspired by the writings of Judith Butler on gender, and materials available through the Otherness Archive and Trans Masc Studies. Archival resources are often sterile or official materials, I wanted to create a project that reflected the joy of queerness, presentation, and experimentation.

Gender: A Performance takes on the absurd, performative nature of gender, challenging participants and its viewers to conceptualize what they view as their "gender" (presentation, personality, social role, etc.) in metaphors outside of gendered terms and expectations. The program immortalizes the aesthetics, interests, and joys of queer youth and queer culture as it challenges gender and gender expectations of the generation and the generations that came before it.

Gender is serious - equality, transgender healthcare and allyship, misogyny - but it is fun and ridiculous and experimental, too. What are you waiting for? Put on a show.