FAQ
Performing the Border
Ursula Biemann. Performing the Border, 1999.
Description:
A video essay set in the Mexican-US border town of Ciudad Juarez, where the U.S. industries assemble their electronic and digital equipment, located right across from El Paso, Texas. "Performing the Border" looks at the border as both a discursive and a material space constituted through the performance and management of gender relations. The video discusses the sexualization of the border region through labor division, prostitution, the expression of female desires in the entertainment industry, and sexual violence in the public sphere. Interviews, scripted voice over, quoted text on the screen, scenes and sounds recorded on site, as well as found footage are combined to give an insight into the gendered conditions inscribed in the border region.
Medium:
Video
Tags:
violence, video, Mexico, borders, sex work, performativity, transnationalism, labor, electronic industry, Ciudad Juarez, prostitution
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum