Visual artist Hester Scheurwater responds to ‘Nausicaa’, episode XIII of Ulysses
PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO, MULTIMEDIA ulysseseurope.eu
Sex Shooter – The Liberation of Sexual Identity
16 September – 17 December 2023
Noorderlicht Gallery at Stationskwartier
Snekertrekweg 1, 8912 AA Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Visual artist responds to episode XIII of James Joyce’s ‘Nausicaa’, as part of ULYSSES European Odyssey
Sex Shooter – The Liberation of Sexual Identity is a multimedia exhibition by the visual artist Hester Scheurwater commissioned by the Groningen gallery Noorderlicht, which it is opening in Stationskwartier Leeuwarden on 16 September, as part of ULYSSES European Odyssey, the three-year cultural programme inspired by James Joyce’s landmark novel Ulysses, taking place across Europe until June 2024.
Hester Scheurwater, who has been exploring and critiquing the role of women as sex objects through nude portraits for several years, was commissioned to respond to episode XIII of James Joyce’s landmark novel Ulysses, ‘Nausicaa’, which gained notoriety when first published for its graphic sexual content and how it depicted female sexuality.
The artist has worked with young emerging artists Nelke Mast and Chiara Pastoor, who are part of the ULYSSES European Odyssey artist residency exchange programme, and explore the same themes, to produce a show that brings together images of members of the public who were selected following an open call for nude models in May. Anyone of any gender could respond and many people came forward.
The installation is free to visit and suitable for people aged over 18, with images, photography, video, sounds and smells that guide the viewer through an explicit and confrontational experience, inviting them to reflect on changing ideas about sexual identity and gender freedom.
Hester Scheurwater says: “With Sex Shooter – the Liberation of Sexual Identity I want to question how a body and sexuality are viewed. In Ulysses‘ controversial episode XIII, the protagonist masturbates at the sight of a young woman lifting her skirt in the distance. The stereotypical scene of a romantic woman passively showing her body, and the sexualised man actively watching, were perfect material for me to ‘shoot back.’ In the exhibition, I turn the scene around by reinventing the traditional gaze as a symbol of sexual liberation and freedom of gender expression for all individuals. The people in my installation appropriate their sexuality and the image of their bodies. They deconstruct the norm, feeling free in their gender identity, their bodies and their sexuality. I want to encourage people to embrace their own sexuality and find freedom in self-determination, by promoting gender equality and breaking traditional gender norms.”
Complementing and in conversation with Sex Shooter – the Liberation of Sexual Identity is Gender Matters: Stories from Istanbul by the Turkish film curator Gülen Güler, whose Yalan Dünya Films Ltd is presenting several films. These were originally created for their own ULYSSES European Odyssey project, Togetherness, which explores coexistence in Europe and has been taking place in Istanbul since June. The issues around gender freedom are at different stages in Turkey and the Netherlands. In Turkey it is still a fight for rights, whilst in the Netherlands the focus is more on freedom and acceptance. Co-produced by Brave New World Producties, the Turkish part of the exhibition will therefore show the journey from the Turkish perspective of activism and fighting for gender rights. It includes clips from the film My Child, directed by Can Candan, in which four parents talk movingly and with touching honesty about discovering that their children are gay or transsexual; and four videos documenting the history of the LGBTQI+ struggle in Istanbul.
Noorderlicht have also responded to the Nausicaa episode of Joyce’s Ulysses by commissioning the Groningen-based Liberian author Vamba Sherif, who is rewriting it within a contemporary context. This will be included in a collection of 18 literary commissions for EUROPE-ULYSSES (working title), a new book by 18 writers in 18 cities to be published in late 2024.
Sex Shooter – the Liberation of Sexual Identity is part of ULYSSES European Odyssey, a multi-disciplinary cultural programme inspired by James Joyce’s landmark novel Ulysses, which is taking place in 18 cities in 16 countries. The three-year programme runs until June 2024 and is funded through an award from the European Commission’s Creative Europe Fund.
Press images for Sex Shooter – The Liberation of Sexual Identity can be found here.
For more information about the exhibition, including interviews and press viewings, please contact Esther Bolt at Noorderlicht: [email protected] / + 31 (0) 50 3182227 [if email is missing please refresh the page]
For information about the full ULYSSES European Odyssey programme, please contact Ben McKnight: [email protected] / +44 (0) 7716 778 850 [if email is missing please refresh the page]
Notes to editors
Hester Scheurwater
Hester Scheurwater studied monumental art at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague. Under the guise of self-portraits, she investigates and critiques the role of woman as a sex object. Photographs of herself posing before a mirror reflects both Scheurwater’s inner thoughts and outward appearance. “The mirrored self-images are my way of reacting on the imitated and fake media images, which are constantly calling upon our imagination, without intending to be taken too seriously, ” she explains. ” I try to deconstruct this call’s effect with my reactions by switching the ‘subject-object’ relationship, without being victimised by it.” Scheurwater’s work is sexually explicit, and therefore well known. The explicit images in her work are shocking and prompt discussion about the purported sexualisation of society. At the same time, her works also share links with international feminist art. Scheurwater’s videos were part of feminist programs and exhibitions, including those at the Brooklyn Museum and the Blanton Museum of Art in the USA.
Nelke Mast and Chiara Pastoor
Nelke Mast (she/they), alias NELLY DANSEN, is a conceptual artist and a self-titled Bimbo born somewhere in a Frysian Forest and raised in a House of Punks. Nelke’s practice is primarily characterised by researching erotic capital and self-conceptualisation. She does this by making visual commentary on gender roles by deconstructing and re-establishing pre-dominant gendered sexual archetypes. Next to breaking down the Freudian Madonna vs. The Whore complex, is the question “NELLY DANSEN, a girl or a concept?” a force that powers her in her artistic, and almost anthropological, practice. Recently this has been done through the lens of the new age Bimbo. Nelke believes the 21st century Bimbo is the reincarnation of the 80s punk identity. Next to being a doctor in Bimboism, NELLY often feels like they are a Private Detective collecting clues. This Natural Born Archivist documents, basically almost everything, to understand how her position as a queer woman with a female-coded body in this world can add value. This is always done in an intertextual fashion accompanied with humour and a sense of Joie de Vivre – NELLY DANSEN always finds energy to get up to no good or to all the good there is! As part of the ULYSSES European Odyssey artist exchange programme NELLY DANSEN will have her residency in Dublin in 2024.
Chiara Pastoor is a Dutch filmmaker, photographer, writer and self-portrait artist. After studying fashion / art direction in Amsterdam, she continued her studies at the art academy (fine arts, photography) and the film academy. In 2022 she graduated with her short film debut. ‘Directed by’ is an experimental film showing a collection of erotic, surrealistic and humorous self-portraits. Chiara takes agency of her body and sexuality and indulges in self-pleasure. Reclaiming the power as both the director and the woman in the image, therefore redefining self-portraits within the notions of the male, female and internalised male gaze. Chiara is currently working on two new short films and a self-portrait photography book, showcasing the fluid relationship between self-love and self-hatred. Her artist residency will take place in Derry-Donegal, which is staging the final ULYSSES European Odyssey events in June 2024.
Noorderlicht
Noorderlicht stimulates and presents the work of both young and established makers, who question the world visually and from their own background.
The Noorderlicht programme operates on the cutting edge of artistic experiment and social urgency. Noorderlicht puts social issues on the agenda, such as the relationship between man and nature and the distribution of power and economy. These themes were initially portrayed by means of photography. In recent years, Noorderlicht has broadened its perspective and positions itself as an institution for all lens-based media.
Noorderlicht supports other art institutions with our expertise and production capacity. An important part of this is the Noorderlicht Photo Lab, a certified printing studio that can produce exhibition works on commission.
Our programme has three strands, each its own character and serving a wide audience: the Noorderlicht International Photo Festival is our anchor point, a biennale for the three northern provinces of the Netherlands; Noorderlicht Studio is our permanent exhibition space in the heart of Groningen, where we offer space for experimentation and talent development. organising four large exhibitions every year, complemented by smaller events; and with Noorderlicht On Tour we work with partner organizations and through commissions on projects in public spaces at different locations, including overseas. abroad and through commissions.
Gülen Güler, Yalan Dünya Films Ltd and ‘Coexistence’
Gülen Güler has a background in education and sociology and has produced various contemporary art video installation works that have been widely exhibited in major international museums, including Küba, which received the Carnegie Prize. She has also produced many award-winning feature films and documentaries, some of them co-produced with EU countries, and a political satire series for TV.
Gülen established avant-garde contemporary art and film production company Yalan Dünya Films in 2002. Her company acts as a hub for emerging artists and directors both national and international and is also a film curating body for European films, organising film screening days and events in small towns, villages and cultural institutions. She also consults and supports grassroots film festivals and cultural events in Turkey.
Yalan Dünya Films have created ‘Co-existence’, presented in Istanbul as part of ULYSSES European Odyssey, which responds the ‘Wandering Rocks’ episode of James Joyce’s Ulysses, elements of which are included in Sex Shooter. More information is available here.
Brave New World Producties
Brave New World Productions (BNWP) was founded in January 2019 by two former colleagues from Leeuwarden-Friesland European Cultural Capital 2018 – Claudia Woolgar and Jan van Erve. The year 2018 was a fantastic cultural year for everyone in Friesland, but it is now behind us and we are looking to the future. What do we want to keep alive in the years leading up to the cultural capital anniversary in 2028? What we now go on to dream, create and realise must be the on-going proof of how successful LF2018 was.
BNWP wants to be part of the post-2018 movement and our mission is threefold:
1. to programme international projects in Friesland with
2. strong ties to young and new artists in the region, and
3. always in a unique location to reach as broad a public as possible.
About ULYSSES European Odyssey
ULYSSES European Odyssey is a three-year, transnational and multi-disciplinary programme inspired by James Joyce’s landmark novel, which runs until June 2024. It includes public events, interventions and symposia in 18 cities in 16 countries: Athens, Berlin, Budapest, Cluj, Copenhagen, Derry-Donegal, Dublin, Eleusis, Istanbul, Leeuwarden, Lisbon, Lugo, Marseille, Oulu, Paris, Trieste, Vilnius and Zurich.
Highlighting the contemporary relevance of Joyce’s work, partners in each city are taking one episode of Ulysses to explore contemporary issues facing Europe, including citizenship and democracy; migration; youth; Europe’s ageing population; social media; food production and sustainability; education; religion and social co-existence; gender freedom; the environment; mental health; and neighbourhoods and community.
Cross-sector symposia in each city will result in chARTer 309, a new democratic exploration of the relationship between arts and society, to be published in 2024. 30 artist exchange residencies are also taking place, and 18 writers from different literary genres and each city have been commissioned to contribute to EUROPE-ULYSSES (working title), a new book also to be published next year.
ULYSSES European Odyssey was conceived and originated by Lead Artistic Partner ARTS OVER BORDERS (Ireland’s acclaimed presenting body for cross-border arts festivals). They have developed the project with Lead Partner Netherlands-based Brave New World Producties (established after Leeuwarden-Friesland European Capital of Culture 2018 with the aim of investing in young artists through international collaborations in non-traditional settings), working with partners in each of the 18 cities. ULYSSES European Odyssey is funded through an award from the European Commission’s Creative Europe Fund.
For further information, please visit the ULYSSES European Odyssey website, or email [email protected] [if email is missing please refresh the page].
ULYSSES European Partners:
Arena Ensemble (PT)
ARTS OVER BORDERS (IE)
Blaagaard Teater (DK)
Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Theatre and Film (RO)
Brave New World Producties (NL)
Budapest Brand nZrt (HU)
Commune di Trieste (IT)
CHORUS (GR)
Create.Act.Enjoy (RO)
Critical+Xwhy Agency (LT)
Fundación Uxío Novoneyra (ES)
gethan&myles and Collectif ildi ! eldi (FR)
Lumo Light Festival (FI)
Museo Joyce Trieste (IT)
Museum of Literature Ireland, MoLI (IE)
Noorderlicht (NL)
ONASSIS Stegi (GR)
Rimini Protokoll (DE)
Teatrul National Lucian Blaga din Cluj-Napoca (RO)
Vilnius City Museum (LT)
Yalan Dünya Films Ltd. (TR)
Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland
