Melt

Description:

Melt was a multimedia performance by Judy Radul and Andrew Wilson, presented in the Grand Luxe Hall alongside Radul’s exhibition To Shine. The work explored identity, gender, and misrecognition through the interplay of live performance, film, and video. Using role reversal, drag, and the figure of the female grotesque, the performers destabilized fixed identities and blurred distinctions between representation and embodiment. 

One performer was introduced as “Miss Judy Radul,” only to be revealed as Andrew Wilson performing the figure of the female grotesque, parodying gestures drawn from projected film loops showing a person voguing and flagellating. Meanwhile, Radul walked on a treadmill with her face obscured by a melting block of ice, which at times became the projection surface for an image of a skull. As she walked, she spoke over and in tandem with a prerecorded track, producing a disoriented echo effect as she recounted experiences of being misunderstood. Acts of concealment, reversal, and revelation culminated in Radul’s reappearance in a fake moustache and beard, followed by a brief operatic love duet, and a final physical withdrawal from the stage.

Video documentation is available upon request.