‘Abstract’ is one of the first words that comes to mind when I think about Untitled Feminist Show, as it is a surrealist work at its core. It is both large and inherently intimate, both messy and coherent. I chose Sous l’Eau by French painter Nicole Azoulay to represent this abstractness. At a first glance, this painting is a mess of colors, brightness, and negative space. It only comes together if you look at the bigger picture; the colors, while chaotic, create a figure that is framed by the surrounding negative space, a figure with its own highlights and shadows. It is up to the viewer as to what this figure could be. I think that Untitled Feminist Show works similarly. It could be considered a colorful and loud mess by some people, but it does have some underlying meaning that the audience has to find within the emotional performances. What that meaning is depends on the audience member.

The second word that comes to mind is ‘nude’. This word could be taken both literally and figuratively: all six people in this show are naked throughout the run time with no exceptions, and one could argue that the emotional aspect of the show is ‘nude’, baring it all to the audience. The concept of biological sex and gender and their relationship is put on full blast in this show, and I think that Picasso Nuba Seated Woman is a very good representation of the ‘nudeness’ and the fragmentation of gender and sex. Christopher Agostino specializes in body and face painting, covering the entirety of the model’s form in a Picasso-esque portrait in this particular piece. This piece portrays what Untitled Feminist Show aims to do away with: the fragmented and cobbled masks and costumes of gender identity that are superimposed on both cis and trans women, hiding the true self underneath a layer of stereotypes. In the show, these stereotypes are separated and celebrated as distinct parts of the ‘feminine’ experience.

One of my favorite aspects about Untitled Feminist Show is the suggested music and sounds that play over most scenes. There are multiple scenes that involve real songs and performances underscoring the action and inaction, but the most musically interesting scenes were ones that had suggestions for different instruments, sounds and tones, creating a certain type of ambience depending on the scene. “Celadon” by Pierre Paslier is what I imagined could be playing under one of these scenes. The interesting thing about Pierre’s music is that there is almost no human input when performing; with a machine called a ‘generative rack’, wires run through different modules that create sounds and musical ideas that are always changing using some sort of computing system. This generation of music creates great ambience, and if I were to take on the role of sound designer for this show, I would want to include some of these tracks in there. They provide this otherworldly presence that I think matches the surrealness of Untitled Feminist Show well.