goo: ga

Hannah Ballou (Artist)

    Research output: Practice-based/Artistic researchPerformance/Live event

    Abstract

    goo:ga is performance practice research that investigates dissonance manifested by the juxtaposition of funniness and sexiness in a feminist critique of patriarchal and postfeminist conceptions of pregnancy and maternity. It is a feminist reclamation of fertility as spectacle, a resistance to the guilty pleasure of binary foetal gendering, and an investigation into the neo-burlesque potential of exploiting multiple modes of sexiness (Lintott & Irvin, 2016) whilst harnessing the comic abjection of pregnancy.
    Original languageEnglish
    Publication statusPublished - 29 Apr 2016
    Eventconference; 2016-04-29; 2016-04-30 - Camden People's Theatre, London, U.K.
    Duration: 29 Apr 201630 Apr 2016

    Bibliographical note

    Reviews: Bergson, H. (1911) Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic, (trans. Cloudesley Brereton & Fred Rothwell) Temple of Earth Publishing, http://www.templeofearth.com/books/laughter.pdf (accessed 01.21.11)

    Cahill, A. (2011) Overcoming Objectification: A Carnal Ethics, New York & London, Routledge.

    Freud, S. (2002) The Joke and Its Relation to the Unconscious, (trans. Joyce Crick) London, Penguin.

    Green, F., & Friedman, M. (Eds.). (2013). Chasing Rainbows: Exploring Gender Fluid Parenting Practices. Bradford, ON: Demeter Press.

    Lintott, S. and Irvin, S. (forthcoming) 'Sex Objects and Sexy Subjects: A Feminist
    Reclamation of Sexiness' in Irvin, S. (ed.) Body Aesthetics, Oxford, Oxford University Press. https://www.academia.edu/10519697/Sexy_Subjects_A_Feminist_Reclamation_of_Sexiness (accessed 17.05.16)

    Oliver, K. (2010) ‟Motherhood, Sexuality, and Pregnant Embodiment: Twenty-Five Years of Gestation” Hypatia, Vol 25, No. 4, Wiley: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2010.01134.x

    Young, I. M. (2005) On Female Body Experience: Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays, Oxford University Press.

    Media: live performance

    Format: live performance

    Duration: 58 min.

    Reviews: https://www.femalearts.com/node/2402

    Impact: goo:ga was a queer feminist intervention in discourses surrounding pregnancy, maternity, parenting, and gender identity. The live performance engaged approximately 120 members of the public in two venues (Camden People's Theatre, London, and Komedia, Brighton) in 2016. The full documentation remains publicly available online and has been viewed 2,600 times as of 17.06.19.

    The work's critical reception is further evidence of it's relevance and impact on artistic conversations surrounding pregnancy and maternity.

    See:

    https://www.femalearts.com/node/2402
    http://fringereview.co.uk/review/brighton-fringe/2016/googa/
    https://www.voicemag.uk/review/1805/googa

    Keywords

    • pregnancy comedy feminist burlesque neoburlesque autobiographical performance art live art cabaret stand up gender maternity
    • Drama, dance and performing arts

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