SUITABLE-FOR.[EXE]CUTION
2021Performance Space New York
New York, New York
︎SHAWNÉ MICHAELAIN HOLLOWAY and Julie Tolentino︎︎︎
“Power is everywhere, in our relationships, our bodies, our beds, behind screens, and between the artist and her audience. In her 20-part multimedia opus, THE CHAMBER SERIES (2017-2021), SHAWNÉ MICHAELAIN HOLLOWAY uses the languages of BDSM, animal training, algorithms, and robotics to explore how power, desire, and violence are inextricably interconnected from our most intimate to our most public relationships.
._SUITABLE_FOR.EXE[CUTION] — part expanded cinema installation, part evening-length performance–marks the end of the series and is organized around scores. Ranging from direct commands to subtle interventions the performers and audience members have to negotiate how to respond to the power at play. To the artist, BDSM’s explicit rules around submission and domination offer the opportunity to recognize more clearly how in our lives “pleasure, love, desire, violence, and anything that could be dark or dangerous are in conversation with each other at all times.”
— PSNY
