For her new exhibition at the Lower East Side gallery Signs and Symbols, Michelle Handelman, acting chair, Film, Media, and Performing Arts, presents a remix of her project Hustlers & Empires, titled LOVER HATER CUNTY INTELLECTUAL, devoting the entire exhibition to a character loosely based on the life and work of French filmmaker and writer Marguerite Duras and the semi-autobiographical protagonist in her novel The Lover. Handelman’s Lover is performed by queer Latinx artist and activist Viva Ruiz.
“My identity is a revolving door of possibilities. If you ask me what I want I’ll tell you. I want everything. Because queerness is a borderless state.” —Viva Ruiz in Hustlers & Empires
This solo exhibition by Michelle Handelman marks the first in a series of in-depth character studies of video icons from Handelman’s latest multiplatform project, Hustlers & Empires (2018). Originally commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, LOVER HATER CUNTY INTELLECTUAL reworks and deconstructs the character of The Lover, presenting a single character study through a multifaceted installation that includes video, text, image, music, monologue, and performance.
Handelman will discuss the show with feminist writer/critic Kathy Battista at 6 pm on Wednesday, May 22, at Signs and Symbols Gallery. The gallery is located at 102 Forsyth Street in Manhattan.
LOVER HATER CUNTY INTELLECTUAL is on view through May 26. The Brooklyn Rail wrote a review of the exhibition; read the full review here.
For more information, contact Handelman, (212) 217-3352.