NSFW. | TRANS-Ville. | Catinca Tabacaru Gallery.

In NFSW, The Menu, Visual Arts by Quiet Lunch

Last weekend, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery presented the second iteration of TRANS-ville. Curated by Milk & Night’s Coco Dolle, the event exhibited six performance art works involving installation art, sound pieces, body language and video projections. With an inter-sectional and inter-generational approach, Dolle mixed in conversations on gender politics, mythos, cross-cultural identity, inter-racial dynamics and transitional states of beings.





Displayed in the window of the Broome Street location, performers used the gallery floor as an extension of their practice, engaging the public in a visceral and moving experience. This second series began with a striking installation and rapping session by inter-racial and trans-cultural trio, UltraCultural Others, taking us through a primal display on the celestial intelligence of Shiva as male/female deity.



Next came a personal and touching performance by young Hannah Altman on the orchestrative routine of femininity using wool as a constricting element, a fiber she is allergic to.



Hector Canonge brought us into a powerful choreography of words, costumes and movements on the perception of maleness within our current socio-political context, questioning our notions of masculinity ‘Not every man abuses power’.



Weaving into the female principle, Katya Grokhovsky displayed a body language and sound piece on issues of abortions and our notions of female beauty.



Untitled Queen sang accapella on the affect of emotive response to loving.



And finally the collaborative duo of Daniella LaGaccia and Kim Duon Quoc presented a real life transitional states of being, with LaGaccia’s naked body covered with video projections of ancient sculptures and designs and ending with a live injection of hormones displaying her transition into a female body.



TRANS-Ville approaches current states of cultural transition emanating from the City. a concept performance series designed by Milk and Night Curatorial, TRANS-Ville makes part of Catinca Tabacaru’s mission to broaden the gallery’s spectrum outside of conventional spheres. Stay tuned for the next iteration set for mid-December.


 All images courtesy of Milk and Night Curatorial and Catinca Tabacaru Gallery. Photographers Olimpia Dior and Stephen Clarke.