Autoerotique

Daniel Rumiancew’s Autoerotique refers to the problem of human identity, in particular in terms of gender, which is a social invention and not the natural consequence of the sex. Judith Butler, a specialist in the subject of gender studies, indicates that gender identity is constructed in the process of performativity: the constant repetition of certain modes of behaviour, poses and gestures, which are seen in a given society as specific to men and women, and which actually result in internalisation. Butler claims that sex is also a cultural creation and proves her thesis by referring to the fact that human sexual identity is not always correspondent to one’s sex characters (as is the case with transvestites, for example).

Rumiancew’s work is composed of two simultaneous projections placed in one of the corners of the room. The artist is making a grotesque performance to the rhythm of disco music thumping from the loudspeakers: he takes off woman’s clothes and puts on a man’s suit. The action can be seen as liberating (undressing) and accepting (putting on clothes) of a series of norms used for defining gender and which are respectively expected from men and women. The interdependence of gender and its external indicators present in the culture have been emphasized here by two actions: the taking off a bead necklace and the putting on a tie. The video does not, however, present the serious approach typical of gender studies. Rumiancew-the woman, as well as Rumiancew-the man, are just as caricature-like. The exaggerated gestures are presented in the company of cheap clothes and cheap music. Still, the deeply rooted conviction about the social and cultural context conditioning the notion of gender is not discredited. For a moment, the artist stands naked before the viewers. This may be the key part of the work.

Rumiancew questions the image of the man determined by social expectations. For a while, the man here is able to liberate himself from the social codification, his personality escaping the strict definition. The sex is no longer burdened with stereotypes, and nakedness makes it possible for one to find a place in the androgynous sphere – when the female traits can also belong to man, without any social disapproval.

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