Season 3 October 20-30th 2011


Beauty Contest—Human Beauty and Its Social Construction

Wednesday, October 19th   |   6:30pm   |   120 min   |   Performance / discussion   |   The Austrian Cultural Forum
Hosted by: Gia Kourlas

Co-presented with the

Visual arts, fashion and media have strongly contributed to the transformation of the notion of beauty over the last few generations. Widely perceived of as an extension of femininity until the late 20th century, feminism and the gay, lesbian and queer movements have eroded clear definitions of who and what is beautiful – and who and what is not.

French historian, dancer and choreographer François Chaignaud, American author of The Man in the Grey Flannel Skirt Jon-Jon Goulian, Austrian dancer and choreographer Silke Grabinger, and Salette Gressett, curatorial advisor for the exhibition at the Austrian Cultural Forum, will discuss how emancipatory artistic reflection and practice has fought to reveal the hidden structures of repression toward gender, race, and age and shake off antiquated visual preconceptions.

This event takes place in the framework of the exhibition organized at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York and currently on view at the ACFNY.

Tickets: Free, reservations required: x 222
reet, 10022 New York
     
Beauty Contest — Human Beauty and Its Social Construction

François Chaignaud

© Alexander Kargaltsev

Jon-Jon Goulian

© Diana Levine

Silke Grabinger

© Julia Change

Salette Gressett

© All rights reserved

“We build too many walls and not enough bridges.”  Isaac Newton