The present research project will explore a case study of the experiment of Pandrogeny as conducted by artists Genesis and Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge, arguing that it is best understood as art that performs religion. Utilizing behavior and body modification, this collaborative experiment was intended to create a third, androgynous being, coming into existence through a merging of their identities and referred to as “Breyer P-Orridge.” The experiment was conducted between 1993 and 2007, when Lady Jaye passed away; however, Genesis, in various ways, continues Pandrogynic explorations into the present. The case of this project being religious for Genesis will be made by examining a recent solo exhibition displaying Genesis’s work as well as the performative dimensions of Pandrogeny from its inception to the shift that occurred with Lady Jaye’s death.

L’Italie, berceau de la sprezzata desinvoltura de Castiglione, est assurément le pays où l’ambiguïté des relations entre art, politique et images médiatiques est la plus forte. Le pavillon Italien des biennales de Venise de 2009 et 2011 illustre ce jeu complexe des apparences, qui « fait des mondes » ou « illumine des nations ». En relisant l’histoire de l’art à travers le prisme du concept de Castiglione, la thèse nous donne à voir que le monde (de l’art) est lui-même l’effet de l’ambivalence de cette désinvolture. Loin d’avoir assujetti l’art à leurs concepts, les grands hommes, qu’ils soient rois, philosophes ou hommes d’affaires seraient des effets de cette désinvolture de l’art. Comme Monsieur Jourdain, ils feraient de l’art sans le savoir. Exit Machiavel ! Il est aujourd’hui urgent de penser cette « ruse de l’art » qui mène le monde. Tel est l’enjeu fondamental de cette thèse qui, s’appuyant sur le schème nietzschéen de l’éternel retour, distingue plusieurs figures de la désinvolture, historiques, philosophiques et esthétiques. / Italy, the cradle of Castiglione’s sprezzata desinvoltura, is undoubtedly the country where the ambiguous relationship between art, politics and media is the strongest. The Italian pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 2009 and 2011 illustrates the complex game of appearances, which are “making worlds" or "lighting up nations." Reading again the history of art through the prism of Castiglione’s concept, the thesis shows us that the world (of art) is itself the effect of this “disinvoltura” ambivalence. Far from having subjugate art to their concepts, the great men, whether kings, philosophers or businessmen are the effects of this casualness (“desinvoltura”) of art. Like Monsieur Jourdain, they would make art without knowing it. Exit Machiavelli! It is now urgent to think this "ruse of art" that leads the world. These are the fundamental stakes of this thesis, that basing itself on the Nietzschean eternal return schema, distinguishes several casualness figures, historical, philosophical and aesthetic.

This dissertation presents an investigation into two so-called live art works – Ugly girl at the rugby (1998) and Chandelier (2001-2002) – by the contemporary South African artist Steven Cohen (1962-). These works are explored with reference to the manner in which Cohen (as self-declared queer Jewish freak) uses performance art as a form of activism in order to expose practices of marginalisation and suppression (oppression) of non-normative or so-called deviant subject positions in terms of gender, race and ethnicity. The analysis of artworks is guided by the discourse of the carnavalesque and performative conceptualisations of gender with particular emphasis on Cohen’s use of drag as contemporary form of masquerade in order to propose an alternative subject position. The argument is as follows: that Cohen, by setting up an extreme alternative to normative identity constructs, manages to destabilise existing hierarchies that are structured according to binaries as these exist in spaces (such as a rugby stadium and a squatter camp) in the South African context. This destabilising of binary hierarchies gives rise to the argument that the symbolically encoded nature of spaces known for associations of suppression, exclusion and marginalisation are wrought open so that alternative meanings can come into being by activating these spaces as multifaceted and chronotopic constructs. The conclusion is that Cohen contributes profoundly towards the destabilisation of identities and in this way also helps to propose invigorating and fresh views of gender, race and ethnicity in a contemporary South African situation. / Thesis (MA (History of Art))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

This dissertation presents an investigation into two so-called live art works – Ugly girl at the rugby (1998) and Chandelier (2001-2002) – by the contemporary South African artist Steven Cohen (1962-). These works are explored with reference to the manner in which Cohen (as self-declared queer Jewish freak) uses performance art as a form of activism in order to expose practices of marginalisation and suppression (oppression) of non-normative or so-called deviant subject positions in terms of gender, race and ethnicity. The analysis of artworks is guided by the discourse of the carnavalesque and performative conceptualisations of gender with particular emphasis on Cohen’s use of drag as contemporary form of masquerade in order to propose an alternative subject position. The argument is as follows: that Cohen, by setting up an extreme alternative to normative identity constructs, manages to destabilise existing hierarchies that are structured according to binaries as these exist in spaces (such as a rugby stadium and a squatter camp) in the South African context. This destabilising of binary hierarchies gives rise to the argument that the symbolically encoded nature of spaces known for associations of suppression, exclusion and marginalisation are wrought open so that alternative meanings can come into being by activating these spaces as multifaceted and chronotopic constructs. The conclusion is that Cohen contributes profoundly towards the destabilisation of identities and in this way also helps to propose invigorating and fresh views of gender, race and ethnicity in a contemporary South African situation. / Thesis (MA (History of Art))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.