Spooky Boobs Collective
to
Arts + Literature Laboratory 111 S. Livingston St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703
press release: Arts + Literature Laboratory will present the first ALL Jazz Fest during Gallery Night on Friday, May 4, 2018, and also celebrate the opening of "The Pervasive Curse" exhibition by the SPOOKY BOOBS COLLECTIVE, a feminist collective that uses art, language, and design to visualize the trivialization of women’s experiences. The exhibition opening will take place from 5-9pm and feature live performances of their interactive piece "You Have the Right to Remain a ____" throughout the evening every 30 minutes. The exhibit is on display from April 28-May 25.
SPOOKY BOOBS COLLECTIVE, a collaboration between artists Amy Cannestra, Myszka Lewis and Maggie Snyder, uses art and design to visualize the trivialization of women’s experiences. Manifested through installations, interactive performances, social media campaigns, and printed material, SBC’s work halts the perpetuation of sexism in our culture. The Pervasive Curse features three current works by the SPOOKY BOOBS COLLECTIVE that depict the prevalence of sexist and misogynist language that continues to foster resentment and disrespect towards women.
The Patterns’ Vicious Influence utilizes wallpaper as a conceptual vehicle to discuss the way language saturates our environment and imprints itself onto our psyches. The wallpaper patterns of this series are built using words that are used to diminish and minimize women; these words range from descriptors that disregard our ideas (bossy, crazy, over emotional) to names that attack our bodies and sexuality (cunt, pussy, slut).
Using many of the same words hidden within The Patterns’ Vicious Influence, our interactive performance piece You Have the Right to Remain a _____. visualizes the way hostile language is used to actively shame those not following patriarchal standards. For this interactive performance, we interrupt unsuspecting participants and place them under momentary arrest for various crimes against societal norms. The allegations we assign to our participants call out behaviors and attributes such as displays of confidence, independence, emotions, and other normal and even admirable qualities. For instance, the crime of voicing one’s opinion may lead to one being labeled a bitch. After informing our participant the details of their charges, we take their mugshot-styled portrait and finish processing their paperwork. The arrest, and tongue-in-cheek performance, ends with the statement “you have the right to remain (introverted/confident/stoic/
Now You Know Your ABCs is an audio piece that quietly plays throughout the gallery. A handful of voices slowly and matter-of-factly recite our misogynistic alphabet. “A is for aggressive… … b is for bossy… … c is for crazy…” This work critiques how early in life we learn and internalize sexism or a gendered understanding of social norms.
The exhibition is sponsored in part by Batch Bake House and R.E. Golden Produce.