London Today III

Ever considered taking  on a new image? Ever tried something that
went a bit  further than changing your
haircut? Try out the Wig Therapy, Barby Asante’s  ultimate salon experience. 

This skilled and experienced expert will demonstrate how image transformation
will affect your personality and mood. You’ll see a multitude of unexpected
identities emerge. Discover what really makes you beautiful. Be it with “Short
Blond”, “Dreadlock”, “Glamour”, “Pop Star”, or maybe with the slightly more
sophisticated wigs of other Cultural Personae, the wig therapist will reveal in
no time your true identity. “My desire is to look at how we can, in the words
of Nitin Sawhney’s brilliantly titled album, go ‘Beyond Skin’ and into other
spaces where our individual identities feel more comfortable with who they are.
In order to display assigned, given or taken identities, I feel it is important
to use elements that play with identity on such a fine line that they are discomforting
as much as they are playful... As I feel we are forever performing our
identities, much of my work is focused on the performative qualities of our
bodies, in particular the black body and the body of a soon to be mother. I am
interested in how these bodies fit into space, how these bodies are defined
from the outside and how that impacts on the person who owned the body.” Barby Asante is a London based multimedia producer and artist
whose work focuses on concepts such as identity and self-expression. How do we
define personal identity through comparison, competition and aspiration? Much
of her performance-installations place the viewer at the centre of the artistic
process through physical interactive experiences. She explores the manipulation
of image in our media-saturated environment. How do these images affect the
self-image? How do the different spaces in which we present ourselves affect
our everyday interactions with others?
Asante has been exhibiting,
performing and teaching since 1994. Most recently she was a resident and
exhibited at 198 Gallery (London)
devising three performative interventions under the collective banner I Accept
Your Image. I Am You. This year she presented Supermodel Studio at push 01, a
contemporary British black arts event. She also works closely with inIVA, with
the London based artists group Mannafest and was
recently associate producer of HEADRUSH.urbanactivearts2000, a multi-arts
festival held in London.
She has taught ‘Photography and the Media’ at London Guildhall
University, facilitated
various workshops and is currently a research assistant at DARE, a digital arts
resource for young children.

Program Barby Asante
Wednesday, 10. 10. at 23.00, Menza pri
koritu (night intervention)
Thursday, 11. 10., 14.00 – 18.00, Hair
salon Mič Styling, Židovska ul. 6, Ljubljana;
23.00, Menza pri koritu (night
intervention)

organised by: Mesto žensk / City of Women
in collaboration with: Menza pri koritu
thanks to: Frizerski salon Mič Styling
with the support of The British Council