Talk

For a genealogy of marginalized tonalities

Sunday 28 May 2023 from 2:30pm to 3:30pm

Free entry

Talk in french

© Chloé Magdelaine

Queer and feminist counter-histories of the voice, for a genealogy of marginalized tonalities.

On the occasion of the launch of the book "Fly, Robin, Fly. Chanteurs castrats, voix & politiques des genres" published by sun/sun - a collective work on the mythical and political figure of the castrato - the book's editorial director Nils Alix-Tabeling, art historian Caroline Honorien and Marine Lang, director of Mécènes du Sud, a collective of 45 companies that support contemporary art, are in conversation in order to address various topics specific to gender studies and feminist issues.

This double-covered book also looks back at the eponymous exhibition held at Mécènes du Sud in Montpellier, curated by Nils Alix-Tabeling. In one of the book's essays, Caroline Honorien weaves a genealogy between the figures of musicians Gladys Bentley, Vaginal Davis and Mykki Blanco, whose "performances trace a poetic and political history that allows us to explore the phenomena of interaction between queer tonalities, lesbian identities and the performance of masculinities".
Educated as an art historian, Carolina Honorien is an independent art critic, editor and curator.

Her research focuses on the practices of the black diaspora and/or queer practitioners. She brings together art historical, musical and counter-cultural perspectives to address the aurality, space and time of diasporic studies.  She is a member of the editorial board of the English-language journal The Funambulist.

Nils Alix-Tabeling is an artist whose practice includes sculpture, performance, video and sound installations, writing and his own curatorial projects

"The visual artist Nils Alix-Tabeling produces a singular body of work that questions our human futures in a rapidly changing world. Resolutely symbolist, even surrealist, his sculptures, installations, paintings, texts and performances are full of references to magical and ancient practices as well as to certain queer stories and legendary figures. The humanoid figures he sculpts coexist in a transhistorical, syncretic and intuitive approach, heterogeneous and chimerical identities, hybridizing gender categories and the kingdoms of the living and even the non-living. The result is a sophisticated and complex universe whose vital energy is devoted to making the invisible visible by dissolving the boundaries between reality and fiction." Text by Magali Gentet

Marine Lang is the director of Mécènes du Sud Montpellier-Sète-Béziers, a collective of 45 companies supporting contemporary art.

Each year, the association produces works, projects and events, and establishes a programme of exhibitions in a dedicated 150m2 space in Montpellier. Within this structure and in general, Marine Lang is interested in the ways to set up a democratic, collective artistic project management, open to different practices, amateur and professional. She previously worked for the public services of the Magasin in Grenoble (38) and the Musée régional d'art contemporain in Sérignan (34). She is also an exhibition curator.