THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

The lines around the boxes ‘male’ and ‘female’ seem to be getting increasingly blurry. What do museumgoers think of this? And how do they see themselves?

Genderful world

The retailer HEMA has dropped the words ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ from its children’s clothing labels, and the Dutch railway company NS begins its PA announcements with “Dear travellers”. The Tropenmuseum’s temporary exhibition ‘What a Genderful World’ shows how people have viewed gender over time and in different parts of the world. Working with the museum, we developed several media installations that challenge visitors with regard to how they think about and look at gender.

Posing as men and women

In one interactive, a photo booth, visitors are invited to pose in masculine and feminine ways and as themselves. Through comparing the poses, they become aware of the stereotypical way we think about gender. The other interactive, a poll, asks visitors to share their opinions about certain gender-related case studies. What do they think of gender-neutral child-rearing? Should there be gender-free toilets? The two films look at role-reinforcing and role-defying examples from the music industry and the world of advertising.

LOCATION: Amsterdam, the Netherland
CLIENT：Tropenmuseum
TYPE: Exhibition
TIME：2019
COLLABORATORS: Studio Harm Rensink, HeyHeydeHass