POLS 213: Gender and Politics students -you can go to this after class that day…

“The War on Terror offers an unprecedented opportunity to the women of [America]. Our nation is putting its trust in our talents, and is providing the support we need to show the world that American women are the linchpin in the worldwide struggle for democracy.”

With these words, Coco Fusco – a New York-based, Cuban-American performance artist, writer and forthcoming Hood Fellow at The University of Auckland – sets the stage for her latest work, “A Room of One’s Own: Women and Power in the New America.” As part of her Hood Fellowship in early August, Associate Professor Fusco will stage two performances of the work in Auckland and lead an Australasian artists’ symposium examining the role of contemporary art practice and performance as a vehicle for social change.

“A Room of One’s Own: Women and Power in the New America”
What? A performance-lecture about the expanding role of American women in the War on Terror. Fusco takes on the persona of a female graduate of military intelligence school and a seasoned interrogator.

When? Thursday, 2nd August at 1pm and Friday, 3rd August at 7.30pm

Where? Maidment Theatre

Tickets? Free tickets can be picked up from the Maidment Theatre

Enquiries? For further information, call 09 308 2383

In developing “A Room of One’s Own” the internationally recognised artist underwent a mock interrogation process, confronting first-hand the often torturous, sometimes sadistic practices of military personnel charged with eliciting intelligence from would-be terrorists. Her performance-lecture focuses on the rationale behind using sexual innuendo as a tactic for extracting information from Islamic fundamentalists. It also stresses, with cutting satire, how a career in the military intelligence represents an opportunity for emancipated women of the 21st century to shed their role as victims and become victimizers, wielding significant power and control over “others”.