THEIR EXPERIENCE OF REJECTION IS THE ARTWORK

For the last 4 years, the Tasmanian Museum of Old and New Art has been running an installation called The Ladies Lounge. Only people who identify as ladies are allowed to enter. In the lounge, they can sit in luxury and look at famous artworks by Picasso etc, which are not available elsewhere in the museum. They are served champagne and pampered by male butlers. It was meant as a comment on exclusionary men's clubs (which still exist in Australia and elsewhere).

Some dude got upset about it and sued the gallery for entry at the anti-discrimination tribunal. The artist, Kirsha Kaechele, said she was "absolutely delighted" that the exhibit had been taken to court. “The men are experiencing Ladies Lounge, their experience of rejection is the artwork,” she said.

She then turned the tribunal hearing into part of the art as well, by having a group of women observing the hearing dress like her and mimic her every move. They did not disrupt the hearing, and at the end of proceedings they exited the tribunal to the song Simply Irresistible.

Kaechele argued in her defence the Ladies Lounge was “a response to the lived experience of women forbidden from entering certain spaces throughout history” and promoted equal opportunity.

The tribunal found against the gallery and is ordering them to allow men to enter the exhibit. MONA is removing the exhibit instead.

Fucking love this artist 😂

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/apr/09/mona-ordered-to-allow-people-who-do-not-identify-as-ladies-into-ladies-lounge-exhibit

#MONA #art #kristenkachele #sexism #discrimination #performanceart #australia