Coco Fusco’s Couple in theCage and Kate Bornstein’s Adventures
Having grown up in a “traditional” WASP household, we regularly went to church on Sunday’s and were usually conservative in our opinions and mannerisms. I was taught to believe that men and women don’t have sex or even live together unless they’re married. I was also taught that it was a sin to be gay. When I turned eighteen, I broke away from my family andtheir “traditional” values. I started to experiment with my sexuality and realized that just becausewe are “taught” that two members of the same sex should not be together, it doesn’t mean that itdoesn’t happen naturally quite often. To this day, I never speak about my bi-sexuality with my family, however it is something known and I am seen as the black sheep.In watching the two videos by Coco Fusco and Kate Bornstein, I was introduced to more types of behavior that I was taught was inappropriate. In Couple in a Cage, by Coco Fusco, an indigenous couple is on display and locked in a cage for others to stare and gawk at. It
In addition to this, both these artists have used physical stunts and performances as a mean to attain the above mentioned social and cultural deconstruction. Though these artists focus on representing their social performance, they both illustrate the potential presence of an Agency.
Coco Fusco’s Couple in theCage and Kate Bornstein’s Adventures in the gender trade, we can understand that both these artists, through their videos have focused on the aspect of cultural disruption or more popularly comprehended as “Deconstruction“. In addition to this, both these artists have used physical stunts and performances as a mean to attain the above mentioned social and cultural deconstruction. Though these artists focus on representing their social performance, they both illustrate the potential presence of an Agency. As understood through the readings of Lesson 9, agency is referred as the ability to engage with and act to control one’s situation. In the video – The Couple in the Cage, we can see how the audience have been entrusted with majority of the power. The actors are seen to be wearing an odd combination of animal printed clothing and sunglasses. Coco Fusco, herself states that this performance of hers was thought to be a