Montreal-based performance artist Cassils debuts this week at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art with a three-part exhibition that addresses violence and trauma against transgender bodies.
Cassius: The Phantom Revenant, which opens to the public next Thursday from 6-9 p.m., speaks to timely concerns for the experience of LGBTQ+ people with multi-media presentations and objects inspired by sculpture, feminism, body art and gay male aesthetics.
Included in Cassils’ exhibition is “Becoming an Image,” a one-time performance next Wednesday, Feb. 1, from 7-9 p.m., in which a large clay block is repeatedly attacked in a dark room lit only by a photographer’s flash. The event by reservation has reached capacity Bemis reports, but if you would like to be added to the waiting list in case of any cancellations, call at 402.341.7130.
The performance broaches questions on the role of the witness, the aggressor and the documenter. The resulting sculpture joins others in the exhibit as part of the “Resilience of the 20%” project where the pieces are bronzed and place at sites where acts of violence toward gender-nonconforming people have occurred.
Cassils: The Phantom Revenant opens to the public Feb 2, with an art talk at 6 p.m. at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art and runs through April 29. For more information, visit bemiscenter.org.