Alicia Framis “Stedelijk Statements: Century 22” Stedelijk Museum

Stedelijk Statements: Alicia Framis, Century 22is the first edition of Stedelijk Statements, a program series in which a scholar, artist, critic, or cultural entrepreneur composes an evening at the museum. The curator of the program is given the floor to share his or her views on visual art and design. New research and both artistic and academic projects will be presented during an evening program consisting of lectures, debates, performances, and film screenings.
Alicia Framis (1967 Barcelona) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice blends architecture, design, fashion, and performance, and is the curator of the first Stedelijk Statements evening. This evening kicks off her international project titled Century 22. The ongoing project contains research on the social position of non-binary families, and artistic research on design and architecture related to these issues. Tonight she starts her researchproject with a film and performance, and a lecture by professor Beatriz Colomina. The performance, film and lecture all evolve around the subject of gender-neutral architecture and non-binary housing. On Saturday, January 14, Alicia Framis will perform for the second time.

“We are living in a society that becomes more and more complex. Society is becoming a big global performance directed by social media, day by day, from Facebook “like” to Facebook “like.” We’re steered by algorithms, governed by systems too complicated for one individual to understand, let alone control. The human tendency is to react to that by creating boxes and categories with fences to make it more understandable and comprehensible. So we block out all kind of deviation from the norm and create new borders (real new ones between European countries again) and divisions.
The very first division, when we are born, is between male and female.
It seems almost fundamental for us to hold on to that as one of the last certainties we have to establish ourselves and our identity. For that reason we are extremely harsh on people who challenge that basic polarity, to those who want to change their gender during their life. Can we imagine a world in which we loosen up the gender specificity? What rules would need to be changed? What consequences would it have? What ethical decisions would need to be made?” Alicia Framis, Amsterdam 2017 (stedelijk museum press-release)