Showing Shame, Shamelessly Showing: "Queer" Video

Showing Shame: Shameless Showing
curated by Robert Summers

Telic Art Exchange: One Day Event on 22 September, 2007

The selected "queer: videos show various enactments of the artists and/or their friends performing themselves in acts of shame. With regard to "queer" subjectivity and shame, I draw on the work of Eve Sedgwick who argues that shame can be understood in relation to "queer" – as she pointedly states, "queer" is a term that "might usefully be thought of as referring in the first place to [persons who are tied to shame] … those whose sense of identity is for some reason tuned most durably to the note of shame”. But, I argue that even though there is shame there is also the shameless, it is never far behind, which I think is important to examine in relation to "queer/-ness" – which would push Sedgwick's argument. Indeed, I see no reason to disconnect shame from shameless – after all they are but a suffix apart. All in all, I hope these films show something valuable: I hope they show something shame/less.

http://www.telic.info/jordan-crandall-showing-erotic-cultures-of-self-display.yeah

http://www.telic.info/mimi-nguyen-and-john-paul-ricco.yeah