'...and just set that body on fire!'. Posthuman perspectives on the body, becomings, and sticky encounters in vogue femme.
(2020) KOVM12 20201Division of Art History and Visual Studies
- Abstract
- This thesis explores aspects of vogue femme as a highly aestheticised, performative, and radically subversive visual phenomenon. The focus lies on the posthuman characteristics of this dance and the possibilities it opens up for becoming-other. Vogue femme first appeared as a competition category at balls during the 1990s. It consists of five elements (hands performance, duckwalk, catwalk, spins and dips, and floor performance) and it is characterised by a cunty energy, which in ballroom terms signifies soft movements, an exaggerated expression of hypersexual femininity and whimsical playfulness. Adopting a post-anthropocentric point of view and building on the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, and Rosi Braidotti, I analyse each... (More)
- This thesis explores aspects of vogue femme as a highly aestheticised, performative, and radically subversive visual phenomenon. The focus lies on the posthuman characteristics of this dance and the possibilities it opens up for becoming-other. Vogue femme first appeared as a competition category at balls during the 1990s. It consists of five elements (hands performance, duckwalk, catwalk, spins and dips, and floor performance) and it is characterised by a cunty energy, which in ballroom terms signifies soft movements, an exaggerated expression of hypersexual femininity and whimsical playfulness. Adopting a post-anthropocentric point of view and building on the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, and Rosi Braidotti, I analyse each element and propose different approaches of becoming-other. Influenced by the work of Sara Ahmed, vogue femme is explored through the lens of affect theory and in regards to the affect and stickiness that is produced and exchanged among the bodies that participate in the ballroom ritual. Furthermore, the runway is characterised as a heterotopia / heterochrony, and as an anti-normative social movement that appropriates and subverts semiocapitalist symbols. Stickiness is seen as a generator of intimacy and sweat as a visual indication of transformative somatic labour and as a liquid facilitator of proximity. The research is based on fieldwork conducted in
Malmö and Berlin, and includes interviews with voguers and participatory
observation. Methodologically, I also reflect on the significance of my body in terms of experimenting with the limits of the proposed becomings and creating sticky relationships with the dancers. The engagement of the body plays a central role in arriving at the final conclusions, in regards to the social character of
voguing, which is seen as a ritual that needs a here, a now, and the methexis that is generated through presence and skin-on-skin contact. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9023180
- author
- Tente, Christina LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- KOVM12 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- voguing, vogue femme, posthuman theory, affect theory, becoming, stickiness
- language
- English
- id
- 9023180
- date added to LUP
- 2020-09-14 08:22:47
- date last changed
- 2020-09-14 08:22:47
@misc{9023180,
abstract = {{This thesis explores aspects of vogue femme as a highly aestheticised, performative, and radically subversive visual phenomenon. The focus lies on the posthuman characteristics of this dance and the possibilities it opens up for becoming-other. Vogue femme first appeared as a competition category at balls during the 1990s. It consists of five elements (hands performance, duckwalk, catwalk, spins and dips, and floor performance) and it is characterised by a cunty energy, which in ballroom terms signifies soft movements, an exaggerated expression of hypersexual femininity and whimsical playfulness. Adopting a post-anthropocentric point of view and building on the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, and Rosi Braidotti, I analyse each element and propose different approaches of becoming-other. Influenced by the work of Sara Ahmed, vogue femme is explored through the lens of affect theory and in regards to the affect and stickiness that is produced and exchanged among the bodies that participate in the ballroom ritual. Furthermore, the runway is characterised as a heterotopia / heterochrony, and as an anti-normative social movement that appropriates and subverts semiocapitalist symbols. Stickiness is seen as a generator of intimacy and sweat as a visual indication of transformative somatic labour and as a liquid facilitator of proximity. The research is based on fieldwork conducted in
Malmö and Berlin, and includes interviews with voguers and participatory
observation. Methodologically, I also reflect on the significance of my body in terms of experimenting with the limits of the proposed becomings and creating sticky relationships with the dancers. The engagement of the body plays a central role in arriving at the final conclusions, in regards to the social character of
voguing, which is seen as a ritual that needs a here, a now, and the methexis that is generated through presence and skin-on-skin contact.}},
author = {{Tente, Christina}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{'...and just set that body on fire!'. Posthuman perspectives on the body, becomings, and sticky encounters in vogue femme.}},
year = {{2020}},
}