DARLING, LET ME CLEAN YOUR UNDERWEAR

Performance/Action.

Medium: Performance/Action with Washing powder/Soap, Water, Baskets, Drying Racks, Ironing Board, Iron, New men-underwear of different sizes, Changing Room.
Year: 2010

During the performance, male visitors would be confronted by the artist, who ask them ‘May I clean the underwear that you are wearing?’ If the answer is yes, they could go into a changing room, take off their underpant in exchange for a new one. The collected underpants would be washed, dried and ironed immediately during the performance, and would be sent back to the owners later.

Addressing the issue of affective labour, this performance aims at questioning the contradictory stereotypes of women --- as archetypes in the Bible --- Eve and Mary. At first glance, the female labour in the performance seems to fit in these archetypes. However, by subverting the power-relation of artist/audience by a slightly transgressive act, visitors are pushed into a situation where they, not only have to reflect upon the roles they are in, but also have to evaluate the direct emotions that raise within them, and are forced to make an honest decision.

The project was performed together with Sae Inukai in Goethe Institute during Museumnacht Rotterdam, and Podium OCW, Rotterdam.