GYRL GRIP: SURGEMONY III: HERE WITH YOU (USA/GB)

Saturday, March 10th from 19.30 - 20.30, in the hallway of klub Monokel

Performance/instal-action

In July of 2004, Llewyn Máire underwent a gonadectomy – the removal of gonads – in preparation for full sexual reassignment surgery at some point in the future [funding permitting].  Lisa Newman recorded the entire process on video.

This experience and video footage has led to the development of a series of performances and “install/actions” titled Surgemony.

In Surgemony I: Loving the Alien, through text, action and surgical video, we created a snapshot of our lives leading up to the surgery, and the fears and reactions from our friends and family.

In Surgemony II: Segue, through the use of  movement and surgical video, we explored the rediscovery of intimate touch after a physical and hormonal change. 

There is a huge lack of writings, research, and discussion around intimacy and sexuality within people in transition – and even less on the partners of trans/intergender people. 

Hence, in Surgemony III: Here with You, through action and documentation from "Segue", we will be celebrating some of these relationships, both past and present.

Biography

The gyrl grip was founded in 2001 by collaborators Lisa Newman and Llewyn Máire. They also co-direct Portland, Oregon based presenting organization, 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts www.2gyrlz.org

Using video, movement, spoken word, sound sculpture, conceptual and text-based performance, endurance, and experimental music, the gyrl grip explores new possibilities of communicating what is incommunicable. We discover new languages through any means necessary and encourage our audiences to try on different tongues.

The gyrl grip has performed at numerous international festivals including: Five Holes festival “A Matter of Taste” in 2006 in Toronto, Canada; Lá-bas in Helsinki, Finland; Gender Symposium, Portland Oregon; Performance Studies Intl #11 conference in Providence, Rhode Island; and Full Nelson festival in Los Angeles, California.