the many faced god·dess
with Nils Alix-Tabeling, Sabrina Röthlisberger Belkacem, Bye Bye Binary, Ivan Cheng, Claude Eigan, Cédric Esturillo, Brandon Gercara, Tarek Lakhrissi, Élodie Petit, the Queer Ancestor Project, Sin Wai Kin (fka Victoria Sin), Simon Brossard & Julie Villard.
with Nils Alix-Tabeling, Sabrina Röthlisberger Belkacem, Bye Bye Binary, Ivan Cheng, Claude Eigan, Cédric Esturillo, Brandon Gercara, Tarek Lakhrissi, Élodie Petit, the Queer Ancestor Project, Sin Wai Kin (fka Victoria Sin), Simon Brossard & Julie Villard.
curated by Thomas Conchou
May 19 - July 10, 2021
Maison Populaire
9 bis rue Dombasle
93100 Montreuil, France
While borrowing its title to the faceless, avenging deity of Game of Thrones, the many faced god·dess draws inspiration from the influence of impersonation practices on queer theory and contemporary artistic practices, amongst which drag appears paramount. From the original observations of drag performances leading to Judith Butler’s seminal book Gender Trouble to Elizabeth Freeman’s temporal drag concept, investigating the pull of the past on the present through practices of retrogression, genealogy and memory, drag practices and their sister-practices (cosplay, fandom, comedy, performance, theatricality) create a strategic, politic and reflexive stage, engaging not only with how bodies are constructed but also inhabited and interpreted. But also with how chronopolitics come to play with them : allowing to perform
a critical and historical genealogy. The exhibition will gather artistic and amateur practices around the ideas of mask- wearing, summoning ancestors and mythological beings, as well as performing strategic and fractal identities, and will channel a multitude of historical, fictional or contemporary characters, stressing the multiplicity of our belongings, the impermanence of our identities, and the power of our transformations.
Thomas Conchou (born in 1989, based in Paris) is co-founder of the curatorial collective Syndicat Magnifique and curator for the New Patrons program of Fondation de France within Societies, a non-profit space working at the intersection of visual arts and social action. He is also engaged in an independent curatorial research focusing on queer relationalities and contemporary queer practices.