Edinburgh College of Art Degree Show: | The Man's Nest the Woman's Cage |
The structure is a "Victorian crinoline," which Norberg had previously used in a hot-glass performance with the same title. In the Degree Show the crinoline was exhibited "finished," covered with glass thread, most of it applied after the performance. Next to the crinoline a video showed the performance, edited in a endless loop, to music of Philip Glass. The performance took place in a glass studio lit by the warm light emitted from the glowing glass furnaces. Glass blowing has often described as mesmerizing to watch, and the precise, repeated movements have been compared to a choreographed dance. In the performance, The Mans Nest a Womans Cage, Norberg employed the repeated movements of glass blowing refering to imbued gender roles, dating from the Victorian era, still existing in today's society. As the title alludes to, she used the crinoline as a metaphore of the entrapment of fashion ideals women are subjected to. The female "fashion victim" trapped inside the crinoline was spinning it around her body, as three male (macho) glassblowers continued to apply hot glass to the crinoline. The glass got pulled into a thin thread, the same process as spinning wool, thus wrapping the woman in hot glass.The crinoline structure and a bucket she was standing inside, protected her from getting burnt by the hot glass. |
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