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X and some other chromosome

Leonie Baauw (Local Androids) and Hanneke Wetzer form together an art duo: “Wetzer & Baauw”. Together they worked on project ‘X and some other Chromosome’, under which name they developed a multitude of works within the theme of genderism and identity. They curated the summer program in ‘MU’ ‘Genderblender’. A few of their projects:


Wetransfuse (donorsite)

What body do you wish to have? WeTransfuse is a fictive ‘body-part-swap-site’ which offers astonishing possibilities for anyone looking for genuine otherness, women craving for a flat man’s breast or hairy legs, men hungry for elegant piano hands, delicate female ears or a set of fleshy not silicone breasts. It raises ethical questions about the future technical achievements and limits of plastic surgery.


Transfusion (gender puzzle)

What is a man? What is a woman? We assume that a human with XY chromosomes, two testicles and a penis is a man. A human with XX chromosomes, two ovaries and a vagina is a woman. But the biology shows that it’s not that clear. For example, the genes package can be XXY, someone can be born with both female and male sexual characteristics, or born as a ’boy’ but feel a girl from the inside. There are many more ways a distinction can be made between a man or woman than on the basis of appearance and secondary sexual characteristics. The puzzle Transfusion by Wetzer & Baauw is specially developed for GenderBlender and focuses on anatomy and secondary sexual characteristics. By using the life size puzzle pieces, visitors can compose their own imaginary body and play with the gray area between man and woman.


X%Y% (series of 100 portrets)

In the project X%Y% Wetzer & Baauw took a photographical sample of 100 people. The portraits include an infographic that displays how much the portrayed actually feels masculine and/or feminine. The series shows a large grey area between '100% male' and '100% female', instead of the conventional M/F that is bipolar. This series was the starting point of the expo GenderBlender in MU. The project leads to discussion. What is gender? What makes someone a man or a woman? Is it nature or nurture? Apart from our physical internal and external bodies and some genes and hormones, what really defines a man or a woman psychologically? And how much does it matter?


Don’t act like a guy, be a lady (video)

A lady suppressing her manly side.

Music by Hills.


Man to be (chocolate beard)

A serie of three portraits made with yummy food beards.

This was also the base for our duo portrait for Wetzer and Baauw.


Exhibitions:

Genderblender (NL)

06-06-2014 t/m 17-08-2014, MU Art Space, Eindhoven (NL)


Over smaak valt te twisten (NL)

24-02-2013 t/m 22-03-2013, Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam (NL)


Schaamteloos M/V (NL)

10-01-2014 t/m 26-01-2014, TAC, Eindhoven (NL)