Moose on the Loose – ‘Trans*hapticality’ (17th March 2017)

UPDATE: TICKETS NOW BOOKABLE ONLINE VIA THE FOLLOWING LINK

https://www.vam.ac.uk/shop/whatson/index/view/id/4799/event/Jack-Halberstam—TRANS-HAPTICALITY/dt/2017-03-17/eType/1/free/2

You can also book via our Contact Centre on 0207 942 2000.

Next month we are happy to be hosting an event as part of the wonderfully titled Moose on the Loose Research Biennale program.

Moose on the Loose is led by Dr Sara Davidmann from London College of Communication and is a collaboration with the UAL Photography and the Archive Research Centre (PARC) at LCC.  Some of you may be familiar with Sara from her project Ken. To be destroyed, which we showed an iteration of as part of our LGBT History Month event in 2015.

Jack Halberstam (Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Gender Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California) will be speaking on the subject ‘Trans*hapticality’.

This will take place in the Museum’s Learning Centre on Friday 17th March, 7pm – 8:30pm.

TRANS*HAPTICALITY

The haptic refers to the sense of touch and is a major part of contemporary smart technology; but it has also been theorized in an aesthetic context as a form of representation that relies less on messaging and knowing and more on expressing and unlearning.

Trans* is a terminology increasingly used to refer to the gender flexible body. In this lecture, I will offer a “haptic” account of the trans* body in order to increase its unknowability, to point to the stress it puts on conventional modes of knowing and in order to provide another way of navigating embodiment that does not rely upon clarity, bounded identities and the either/or formulations that produce trans/feminist oppositionality.

My hope here is that the use of a haptic understanding of embodiment offers new language for bodies trembling on the verge of legibility and trying to stay there.

This event is free but booking is essential. Please book here: https://www.vam.ac.uk/shop/whatson/index/view/id/4799/event/Jack-Halberstam—TRANS-HAPTICALITY/dt/2017-03-17/eType/1/free/2

Trans*hapticality will take place in the V&A’s Learning Centre, Seminar Room 5, 7pm-8:30pm

The Learning Centre is wheelchair accessible. For any assistance during your visit, please contact a member of staff or our Disability Officer on telephone +44 (0)20 7942 2766, text phone +44 (0)20 7942 2002, or email disability@vam.ac.uk.