Will Fredo / Sexual Healers TV
Curated by Ihsan Alisan
17 October - 7 November 2020
Mouches Volantes
Ebertplatz Passage 1
50668 Cologne
Germany
SEXUAL HEALERS TV
by Will Fredo
The race between digital innovation and social change in times of cam love
Mouches Volantes is pleased to present Sexual Healers TV a solo exhibition by Will Fredo about sex work, created as a proheaux art channel dedicated to body politic. Through the artist’s research on the sex industry in the Americas and interviews and performances with two sexual healers, the semi-sci-fi video installation addresses an intersection of topics including sex workers' subjectivities and rights, technology as tool for democratizing pleasure, Black Trans Body politics, decolonizing sexuality, among others.
The 4-channel video installation pieces together semi-fictional episodes that start with Fredo’s audition for an adult movie in Medellin, followed by interviews with Erik, a sex worker and Leo, a criminal law attorney/OnlyFans star in Bogota.
The exhibition ends with a 360° explicit video installation* of a performance of sexual nature between Will Fredo and Erik about body politic, informed by the sufi meditation and proheaux womanist practices of the artist.
The opening will feature a performance with Zimbabwean gender non-conforming multimedia artist Mandhla.
Central to Sexual Healers TV is how the artist engages with the artistic and social practices of othering subjects. Will Fredo’s various embodiments throughout the episodes also put into question institutionalised notions of respectability, power relations, epistemology and legitimacy. The channel will be gradually expanded with further video and performance art commissions.
*As part of the artwork's concept there is a fee to watch this video installation, and 30% of the takings belong to the performer Erik. An edition of 20 artworks for 80€ each will be produced for the exhibition.
Bio: Will Fredo (Furtado) is a non-binary artist, writer and editor exploring power dynamics, cultural dislocation and the intersection of pop culture, decolonial thought, Blackness, kuirness and technology.
Since 2017 Will has been part of Contemporary And (&), an art platform focused on African perspectives.
In their artistic practice Will Fredo works with images and texts to explore decoloniality and Global South epistemologies. Will has exhibited with institutions including Museum Ludwig, HKW, Goethe Institut, Körnerpark Galerie Berlin, Supplement Projects Miami, 1.1 Basel, whitebox.art, and Sharjah Film Platform.