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VIRTUAL VITRINE: An Effigy To The Girl of Our Dreams
An Effigy To The Girl of Our Dreams
By James Knott
May 21 – June 30, 2021
View on the Virtual Vitrine
An exploration of the aesthetic and philosophical through-lines between the Cabaret theatre and 70s Punk subcultures.
Split into three movements, we are invited to bear witness to a cautionary tale. We covet the girl of our dreams, for she represents the virility of youth, our projected desire, the conflated infantilization/commodification of the femme body.
Lifting choreography from the virgin sacrifice of Pina Bausch’s play “The Rite of Spring”, we reopen a conversation surrounding how the femme body is sacrificed to gratify the misogyny of the surrounding men.
What are the Psychological ramifications for these practices?
For the idol, and for ourselves?
How do we sleep at night after what we’ve done?
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James Knott‘s performance-based practice combines theatre, video, and audio art to create immersive and emotionally resonant experiences for the viewer. Currently their practice looks to house personal narratives and queer experience through poetic retellings, self mythologizing, and auto-iconographic aestheticism. Explored themes include: paradoxical and queer identity, inner dialogue, mental illness, and camp theatrics. Recent projects have placed an emphasis on movement/gesture, queer personae, archetypes of desire, and the commodification of the femme body
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About the Virtual Vitrine
Trinity Square Video’s vitrine space is a small window gallery located in the 401 Richmond building. It is dedicated to showcasing works by emerging artists, works-in-progress, as well as supplementary extensions of larger works. The Virtual Vitrine platform is an online version of this space, created in order to safely present works in 2021 without the impact of unpredictable Covid-19 restrictions and stay-at-home orders.
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The Virtual Vitrine thanks its media partners C Magazine and Interaccess for their support.
