The Gender of Sound*
live performance
The Gender of Sound* (2023)
live performance [20 minutes]
Research image: text printed on white paper bag
The Gender of Sound* (2023) is an oral response to Anne Carson’s chapter under the same moniker from her book Glass, Irony and God (1995). Utilising the autobiographical capacity of vocal cords and their transitionary pitches, Herlihy questions how presumptions about gender affect the way we hear sound.
Acting as a precursor to the performance, an asterisk [*] marks Herlihy’s vocal cords. A diacritical character, the * poses a question to its prefix, signalling towards a politics based on instability which is orientated towards social transformation, rather than political accommodation.
The Gender of Sound* was originally commissioned by Catalyst Arts for FIX23.The first iteration of this performance took place in Portview, Belfast, an old linen factory.
Acting as a precursor to the performance, an asterisk [*] marks Herlihy’s vocal cords. A diacritical character, the * poses a question to its prefix, signalling towards a politics based on instability which is orientated towards social transformation, rather than political accommodation.
The Gender of Sound* was originally commissioned by Catalyst Arts for FIX23.The first iteration of this performance took place in Portview, Belfast, an old linen factory.