Hairy Situations:
Biotextile Electronic Instruments in performance/body art.
Kathrine Hardman, MA
Master's Thesis, Kunstuniversität Linz, 2023
Abstract and link to the full thesis after the jump...
Abstract
"Over the course of the past years of my education at the Kunstuniversität Linz, I have worked with a distinct focus towards works speaking about, or utilizing as a medium, human hair. Throughout this thesis, I seek to explore and explain this particular artistic practice, with an eye towards contextualizing my own practice in light of historical artistic activity on the same subject. I do this in three chapters: the first two deal with different artistic historic backgrounds, each intended to shed light on different aspects of my practice. A third, final chapter, serves as a selection of my works that engage with these backgrounds, framing my (re)discoveries and contributions to this ongoing artistic dialogue.
Throughout this thesis, I pay special focus to include and address works from marginalized artists. While it is my belief that a diverse knowledge-base offers significant benefits generally speaking, my focus on diversity is also highly personal. An indelible aspect of my work, research, and writing is my identity as a transgender woman. This context has shaped my work (as if it could possibly be removed from it), and has driven my interest towards these picked-apart-pieces, the objects of marginalization. Significant for my own interest has been the body.
The following thesis serves to document my process with applying this critical lens to hair. Hair, like so much else, serves as a battleground between the marginalized and western cultural hegemony: My own hair rejected for improper femininity, the hair of people of color judged when its’ texture is not violently worked into compliance with white aesthetics, etc. I begin my thesis with intensive research into hair as it has already been used in the artistic space, looking for themes, methodologies, and inspirations in the works of both the western cultural hegemon, and from rebels to it. With this as a thematic background, my second chapter focuses on exploring the body as a tool of social critique in modern/postmodern art. There, I seek inspiration from these nonhair body practices that can inform and explain my process with my own practice in creating interactive hair-based electronic instruments. I discuss the inspirations, methodologies, and results of my various works, following my progress from body-practices towards hair as a primary, powerful subject matter, utilizing a concept I’ve termed corporeality."
Special thanks to everyone at Kunstuni, particularly my thesis advisor Manuela Naveau, Laurent Mignnoneau, Gebhardt Sengmüller, and all my fellow students! Without you all, I would probably still be struggling to find my way. The fruit of my labor, in this thesis, is yours to share!
