Untitled

Our society loves binaries: good and bad, right and wrong, white and black, left and right, male and female. In theory, binaries are great; they’re simple, easy to understand and there’s a 50% chance of getting the right answer. However, in reality, the lines are not so clear. The real world is full of complexities that cannot simply be placed into one of two boxes; there are simply too many factors that come into play. The idea that we can bit everything in two completely distinct categories is one that is taught to us from a young age, but we eventually discover that the world is not as simple as that. Between the black and white, there’s the grey; what one person views as good, others may view as evil; people commit acts of violence against some “for the greater good.” Everything, including gender is not as clear-cut as we are taught.

This work consists of 3 images, each with its own sounds projected on top of each other on a concrete wall. The images were made up to binary operations on filled out images of the male and female bathroom figures. The operations, and, xor and or which were applied to the figures highlighted the similarities, differences and the combination of the two genders that society views as completely different yet all-encompassing. These three images suggest the futility of these two categories as they are much more similar than they are different. By projecting the three images on top of each other, this work draws attention to the way in which gender as a whole is represented in society; some emphasising the supposed differences between men and women, others trying to bring the two camps together by highlighting the similarities, while the majority of society ignore people of non-binary genders.

The sounds for each image was created using the programs which were written to convert images of male and female bathroom figures into the and, xor and or figures. The very inclusion of the program draws attention to the construction and thus, enforcement of gender in our society. By including a program, it suggests that society treats individuals as simply machines and forces us to act mechanically, thus causing us to lose our own identity in a crowd of others who have also been forced to conform into these standards. The inclusion of the program also confronts the audience with the notion of gender as being programmed into us as we grow up in a society that is heavily influenced by expectations of gender, ostracising those who do not fit neatly into their prescribed box as well as those who identify outside of the gender they were assigned at birth.

Furthermore, the quality of the sound is quite grainy and almost static-like. This causes the sound to become distinct from the background, but not too noticeable. It is almost representative of the gender binary and the way in which it is so overly present in almost every aspect of everyday life that we do not notice it. Although the gender binary can often be quite overtly enforced through discrimination, restrictions and exaggeration, it is often much more covert and so deeply engrained that it is just accepted as part of the everyday without question. Such example are public bathrooms, an essential part of life that is segregated based on the gender binary. This exertion of the binary leaves many transgender and gender non-conforming people in the difficult position of choosing to use a bathroom that is uncomfortable for them and possibly uncomfortable for others, placing them in a vulnerable situation, or holding in their bodily functions.

The concrete surface on which the images were projected is also quite representative of the way in which the gender binary is enforced. It is an oppressive, man-made material, representative of power and the way in which society tries to assert its power over nature. Similarly, the gender binary and its expectations are an oppressive system that forces people to act in certain ways based on completely arbitrary and indistinct ways.

Thus, this work explores the gender binary, especially its expectations, as a system that society enforces on individuals, leaving those who do not live up to expectations behind.

Bibliography:

Artsy.net. (n.d.). Cassils | PISSED (2017) | Available for Sale | Artsy. [online] Available at: https://www.artsy.net/artwork/cassils-pissed[Accessed 16 Sep. 2018].

Barragan, E. (2018). Cassils | Wanted: Clean Urine Free of Toxicity, Heartlessness, or Prejudice. [online] Flaunt Magazine. Available at: http://www.flaunt.com/content/art/cassils-witness-protection[Accessed 16 Sep. 2018].

Black, R. and Cassils (2011). LadyFace // ManBody. [online] LadyFace // ManBody. Available at: http://www.ladyfacemanbody.com/ [Accessed 8 Sep. 2018].

Cassils. (2018). Cassils – Portfolio. [online] Available at: http://new.cassils.net [Accessed 16 Sep. 2018].  

Cassils (n.d.). Cuts: A Traditional Sculpture « Cassils. [online] Cassils. Available at: http://cassils.net/portfolio/cuts-a-traditional-sculpture/ [Accessed 8 Sep. 2018].

Hudson, S. (2009). Lynda Benglis at Le Consortium. [online] Artforum. Available at: https://www.artforum.com/print/previews/200907/lynda-benglis-23595[Accessed 7 Sep. 2018].

Michelson, N. (2017). The Powerful Reason Why This Artist Has Been Saving His Urine For The Last 200 Days. [online] HuffPost. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/cassils-monumental-pissed-urine_us_59bbeacee4b0edff971b88f4[Accessed 16 Sep. 2018].

Videos that were projected:

In February 2017, US president Donald Trump rescinded protections for transgender students which former president Barrack Obama put in place. In response to this action, performance artist Cassils created the work PISSED to draw attention to the challenges faced by transgender people in regards to bathrooms. The work consists of 200 gallons of the artist’s urine in a glass cube, collected since Trump’s administration rescinded the protections for transgender children.

For this work, Cassils collected and held their own urine in many medical bottles, placing them in fridges. This action of holding their urine is representative of the struggles which many transgender and gender non-conforming people face when needing to use the bathroom as they are faced with the difficult decision of not using the bathroom and holding in their bodily functions or using a bathroom which will cause discomfort to themselves or others. Faced with this great amount of urine, audiences, particularly cisgender people (those who identify with their gender assigned at birth) are forced to face and think about a straight-forward, everyday function that causes a great deal of people a great amount of grief.

PISSED also includes a 2 hour audio track of Gavin Grimm’s quest to using the men’s bathroom at his high school. The audio is filled transphobic comments from “concerned” parents, teachers, members of the school board and Supreme Court judges, showing the context that caused this work to be made and be significant. It forces the audience to grapple with the challenges faced by transgender and gender non-conforming people in a society where many people still refuse to acknowledge their identities and existence.

Bibliography:

Artsy.net. (n.d.). Cassils | PISSED (2017) | Available for Sale | Artsy. [online] Available at: https://www.artsy.net/artwork/cassils-pissed [Accessed 16 Sep. 2018].

Barragan, E. (2018). Cassils | Wanted: Clean Urine Free of Toxicity, Heartlessness, or Prejudice. [online] Flaunt Magazine. Available at: http://www.flaunt.com/content/art/cassils-witness-protection [Accessed 16 Sep. 2018].

Cassils. (2018). Cassils – Portfolio. [online] Available at: http://new.cassils.net [Accessed 16 Sep. 2018].  

Friday 14/09/2018

Thursday 13/09/2018

I took the programs which I wrote to change the binary man and woman and perform operations on them and put them into Adobe Audition as raw files. This resulted in interesting sounds being interpreted by Audition. Since the code was virtually the same, they sound almost exactly identical. All of the original tracks sounded fairly grainy and full of static. However, I changed the sounds by applying different affects to them.

left: xor, middle: and, right: or

Wednesday 29/08/2018

For this experiment, I wrote some code that would perform binary operations. I then took the man and woman binary figures I made for the last assessment and passed them through the code to create these figures.

First off, a bit of explanation about binary operations:

xor (^): If both digits are the same, return 0; if the digits are different (i.e. one is 0 and the other is 1), return 1.

and (&): If both digits are 1, return 1; if any of the digits are 0, return 0.

or (|): If either of the digits are 1, return 1; if both of the digits are 0, return 0.

The idea of gender as simply a binary, based on chromosomes, reproductive organs and genitalia is one that has pervaded our society throughout much of time. Only now have the general public been exposed to how restrictive and unclear these two binaries are. Thus, my poster explores the pressure placed on all of us to fit into two neat boxes of man and woman, and the way in which it restrains us from exploring and acting in ways that do not conform to these standards.

Since the most commonly held view of gender in our society is that it is simply a binary, my work reflects this idea with the woman and man bathroom signs made up of 0s and 1s; the binary number system. Computers use binary to process everything, and through this comparison, it is suggested that the gender binary strips us of the opportunity to express ourselves in completely individualistic ways. Furthermore, the 0s and 1s are arranged in rows, causing the figures to appear to be striped when viewed from a distance. This striped uniform and shackles made of gender signs allude to prison, emphasising the restrictive nature of the gender binary and its associations as individuals are forced to conform or be punished and ostracised.

Despite the pervasive nature of the binary, there are ways to overcome the stigma and expected behaviours. The salient feature of this poster is the fist which protrudes from the bottom, extending to the upper half, shooting a rainbow background from broken shackles. This provides a sense of hope and opportunity, as it suggests that by breaking free of the binary or even simply the associations of what each of the binary genders can or cannot do, we can live a richer, more fulfilling and truly authentic experience. The text, “ALL THE SAME” at the top of the poster is fairly open ended and can be interpreted in many ways, including the idea that all of us are human and thus, the same or that we are all affected and oppressed by the binary and expectations associated with the binary in various ways.

Final Poster

Draft

Experimentation of figures

1. Estimating proportions

2. Typing over graphics of restroom signs with big font

3. Typing over graphics of restroom signs with small font