Fabian Vogler: Crossing the borders of gender in Barcelona

Amidst issues flaring up regarding the poor representation of women in art galleries, Fabian Vogler has decided to cross the existing limits in gender. The German artist has come up with an exhibition, Liquid Gender, exploring overshadowed and forgotten areas like transgender issues. The artist’s work was presented in two halls at the Espronceda Centre in Barcelona.

Representing intersex through art

Fabian Vogler erased the traditional limits imposed by art for the representation of the human figure which is generally categorized by gender. Through a fine blend of photography, video and audio, the artist presented his perception of transgender, allowing visitors to peek through this yet rather unknown facet of art. Fabian Vogler saw this as an exquisite and challenging experiment to try to represent the meaning of transsexual.

Nurturing the ambiguity through sculptures

The sculptures presented by Fabian Vogler varied in sizes and were made from contrasting material ranging from bronze to plaster. They were placed at different angles. Through certain shapes and forms many evoke the human body without, however, giving a hint on the gender. The artist left the path towards interpretation open with accompanying photographs and names.

Drawing inspiration from the 17th century

Diego Velazquez, a famous painter from the 17th century, was the inspiration for Fabian Vogler’s artwork. Diego Velazquez represented the gender of a child through her clothing and the German artist, on his side, decided to use the same forms but largely exaggerated them in such an extreme way that defining the gender became impossible.

Vogler will work on a book on intersex

The artist is categorical: he is utterly bored with male and female stereotypes, especially in art. His future plan is to challenge the binary of gender even further. As such, Fabian Vogler is planning to publish a book exploring the multitude facets of intersex from various angles. Apart from the theoretical aspects, the artist will also include visual features with creative artwork. He was inspired for this project after a discussion with Dr. Katinka Schweizer from the University Medical Centre in Hamburg.

Vogler’s artwork triggered a debate

Fabian Vogler’s innovative approach systematically triggered questions and opinions. The Espronceda Centre organized a debate where experts in art, fashion and gender, as well as the artist himself, met to discuss the ideas and opinions. While some showed their admiration and shared the same appreciation of things as the artist, others were adamant to maintain that fashion should not be mixed up with art, referring to the inspiration from the clothing of a young female child. However, all agreed that all three areas, that is, art, fashion and gender have been intertwining since ages. If in the past, fashion was used to set the gender relations and then art, to immortalize these strict relations, today, the scenario is evolving with more and more people tearing down these established rules.

h/t: The Culture Trip