Penny Trotter

Narcissus of Liberty
Video still from performance piece, 2006.

These video stills come from a performance installation piece that I did in 2006 titled Narcissus of Liberty. This exhibition explores current power relations between social groups in Australia. The main premise of the show is the concept of withheld knowledge as a tactic one social group may use to maintain a sense of power over another. The work focuses particularly on the current relevance of exclusive single sex clubs in Australia.

The video details my paranoid fantasy and subsequent performance of assuming the disguise of a member from an exclusive male only Melbourne club and entering into its premises. This fantasy came about as a reaction to the sense of mythology and "unknowingness" that surrounds institutions such as these where only aristocratic white males are allowed to become members.

The club that I entered is apparently one of the places that the leaders of Australia come to talk about issues that they would rather that no one else would hear about. I think clubs such as this one stand as a symbol for the mythical belief systems that Australian society is built upon.

Cost
AUD$ 300 for each 12 x 18 inch print.

Contact Details
penelopeplanet@hotmail.com

RESUME
2006 – Phd Fine Arts (In progress), – Research in Photomedia- Monash
Research Scholarship, Monash University Caulfield. Title : Fantasy
Fulfillment and Pressing Politics: Ethical Communication as Performance.

Select Exhibitions/Performances
. In Praise of Blandness, group show, Monash University Faculty Gallery, Caulfield, 2008.
. Looking for Charlie, site specific performance art piece, Times Square, New York and Potts Point, Sydney, 2007.
. Electric Valley Studios 2007, Switchback Gallery, Gippsland Centre for Art & Design, Churcill, 2007.
. Narcissus of Liberty, mixed media installation and video performance, Linden Gallery, St.Kilda, 2006.
. Ode to Bowie: The Male Jouissance Thing, in A Lot of Love Goin' Around, group show, RMIT Project Space/Spare Room, Melbourne, 2006.
. How to Dance Like a 1950's Robot Teacher, video, Kings Gallery, Melbourne, 2004.
. Automaton: The Scientific Management of Clean Logic, video, Westspace, Melbourne. 2003.
. Egg Faced Girl, photograph of performance, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney. 2002.
. Untitled,Up in Smoke, performance based photograph, group exhibition, Citylights, Hosier Lane. 2001.
. Andy and the Planet Factory, performance art piece, Melbourne International Biennial opening party, Melbourne, 1999.
. Etiquette vs Depravity - The School of Elegance 1953, live performance art piece, TheBridge – Construction in Process, International art exhibition, Melbourne, 1998.
. Cold Romeo, The Subterranea Banquet, live performance art piece, Platform Art Project, Spencer Street Station, 1997.
. Steward/Stewardess, Poll, a group exhibition, GoGo Gallery, Northcote, 1997.
. Steward/Stewardess, Display group show, Platform Art Project, Flinders Street Station. 1996.
. The Headless Spaceman Hits Planet Earth, Display group show Platform Art Project, Flinders Street Station. 1996.
. Person/Dog,"The Puppy Parade", staged as part of the Jeff Koons Exhibition, Museum of Modern Art at Heide, Buleen, 1996.

Documentation of Artworks in Magazines and Newspapers
. Robert Nelson, "Political spies in our midst open the book on exclusion and the establishment", in The Age, John Fairfax Holdings Ltd., 1 November 2006.
. Meaghan Backhouse, "Around the Galleries", photo for "Ode to Bowie: The Male Jouissance Thing", in The Age, January, 2006.
. Christian Thompson, "Aliens on Earth", catalogue essay for A Lot of Love Goin' Round, RMIT Project Space, 2006.
. "Untitled", (2001) photograph of performance still in Eliza Williams (ed.), Zoo Magazine, Issue # 11, Purple House Limited, London, 2001.
. "Cold Romeo", catalogue essay for Subterranea Banquet, Platform Artists Group, 1997.
. Rachel Tempest, "Poll", catalogue essay for "Poll", GoGo Gallery, 1996.
. Christian Thompson, "More Than Performance: Christian Thompson on the Eve of Destruction", in Realtime, August/September 2006.

Awards/Prizes
. 2007 - Postgraduate Research Travel Grant, Monash Graduat e Research School.
. 2006 – 2009. MGRS scholarship award for Phd Scholarship at Monash University.
. 1997 - Arts Victoria Arts Development Grant to work on Subterranea Banquet, as part of Platform Artists Group.