Is gender a script we are born with, or a rehearsal we never finish? Do you follow the rules, or break and rewrite them? 

Judith Butler suggests that gender is not a stable identity but a "regulatory fiction", a repetitive performance of acts constrained by social rules. This opens our understanding of the complexity of gender identities as well as possible interventions, for which performance art has become a unique field. In this 4-week workshop we explore the meaning, impact, and possibilities of performing gender. Using the foundational theories of Judith Butler and Jack Halberstam, in dialogue with the participants' lived experience, we will examine how society demands gender normativity, and how queer performances of gender can be used as acts of resistance. Starting from the potential found in Halberstam’s idea of ‘queer failure’, we will navigate the space between the personal and the political to develop artistic vocabularies of articulating gender.  
Each session combines discussion of the provided references with physical and imaginative exercises. Participants will begin by exploring their own gendered performances and their inherent frictions. From there, we will adopt drag as a possible artistic strategy. Eventually participants will be invited to interrogate the political and performative texture of the gendered body in performance
 

Syllabus

Steef is a queer nonbinary performance artist whose work consists of durational performances, (alternative) image-making, and performance-based film making, focusing on a non-binary trans* perspective.  Their research and performances are centered around identity de/re-construction through imagination, trans narratives around waiting for healthcare, in-betweenness and becoming, and the visibility and celebration of divergent identities. Steef has presented their work internationally, including at the Venice International Performance Art Week, T*Danse Festival, Museum Plock, and Frascati Amsterdam. Currently they are a lecturer at the MA Performance Practices at ArtEZ University of the Arts, focusing on studio practice and feedback frameworks. 

Learn more about Steef at @steef_kersbergen