Poetics of Cross-Cultural Relation: Critical Performances by Artists kate-hers RHEE and Patty Chang

Authors

  • Jenny Lin University of Southern California

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5399/uo/konturen.12.0.4917

Abstract

This article explores anti-racist, feminist performance and video art by kate-hers RHEE and Patty Chang. Parodic performances of awkward sexual encounters in works such as RHEE’s The Chocolate Kiss (2013) and Chang’s The Product Love (2009) embody and deconstruct identity formation within transnational German and Asian American contexts. I explore how RHEE and Chang distinctly challenge sexist and racist stereotypes and the objectification of Asian women, while problematizing cultural categorization through (mis)translations and poetic relations. The article illuminates how these artists complicate Asian American identities via variegated explorations of critical race theories and connected histories of cross-cultural representation.

Author Biography

Jenny Lin, University of Southern California

Jenny Lin is Associate Professor of Critical Studies and Director of the M.A. Curatorial Program at the University of Southern California. She is the author of Above Sea: Contemporary Art, Urban Culture and the Fashioning of Global Shanghai (Manchester University Press), and is working on a new book and related exhibition: Another Beautiful Country: Moving Images by Chinese American Artists. Lin has published widely on a variety of topics including cultural revolution, queer video, art/fashion exchanges, and Silicon Valley’s aesthetics. She holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History from UCLA, and a B.A. in Architectural Studies and Italian Studies from Brown University.

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Published

2022-04-28

How to Cite

Lin, J. (2022). Poetics of Cross-Cultural Relation: Critical Performances by Artists kate-hers RHEE and Patty Chang. Konturen, 12, 96–127. https://doi.org/10.5399/uo/konturen.12.0.4917