#SERGINA AT THE KNOT 2020

turn it off and turn me on

Multi-bodied drag princess #Sergina activated all of our internet channels with QR codes, google forms, videos and performances this month. #Sergina’s Online Dance Party marks the last event in a series of actions that perhaps had us think about what it might mean to exhibit online. The internet – a constellation of mediums always in flux in a network of connections and tech functionalities – works in a much different way than the white or grey cube (though both spaces share some maybe similar entanglements).  A gallery space, if you happen to find yourself in one, will engage your mind and body directly via art objects (be it media art, painting, sculpture) – whereas the online gallery, if you find yourself following its’ links, will engage your mind via visual, audio and digital means.  In terms of affect, the online gallery functions differently, the body is not involved in the same way.  The internet provides its’ own parameters for us all now to contend with. #Sergina has been working with these particular parameters for some time now, as evidenced in her exhibition at the Knot.   On October 8th she screened “Airdrop”, a spoken word video inviting us to share our data with her.  On October 15th, we experienced   “HOW ARE YOU? #Sergina’s Participatory Soap Opera in Three Acts about Wrestling with Wellbeing in the Digital Age”, either as a voyeur or as a participant. This webinar saw #Sergina inquiring about our wellbeing via google forms to then analyze our data.  On October 23rd, #Sergina released her “Relationship Advice Rewatcheable Webinar” in preparation for the “Online Dance Party” held on October 29th. Dances were danced, poems were read, selfies were taken. Take a look at the documentation below! #Sergina is a mobile-phone obsessed drag queen who emerged out of parties in Berlin in the late 00s. She has been performing songs about love, lust and mis/communication, online and offline, sometimes in a few places at once, for nearly a decade. Played initially just by one body, her identity was soon worn (out) on others; her code up for grabs, her gestures and choreographies infected by all who have played her. In this format, #Sergina (plural) has performed in museums and galleries, queer and theatre spaces in several cities in the UK, Europe and the USA, including The Lowry Centre, Salford Quays; The Marlborough Theatre and ONCA, Brighton; Kulturni Centar GRAD, Belgrade; Monster Ronson’s, Berlin; BOM for Shout Festival, Birmingham; Secret Project Art Experiment, Brooklyn; The Island, Bristol – and is thrilled now to be in Canada, where she actually did her first ever off screen performance back in the day at Banff in 2014. CAST, CREW & CITATIONS FOR #SERGINA AT THE KNOT