Empathy and Prostitution
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''Empathy and Prostitution'' is a conceptual and performative work of critical and
biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
content by artist Abel Azcona. Azcona was inspired by his biological mother, a
prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...
, and sought to empathise with her and with the moment of his own conception. Azcona offered himself naked to the galleries' visitors on a bed with white sheets, so that they could exchange intimacy or have sexual relations with him.


Location

It was created and first performed in the ''Santa Fe Gallery'', Bogota in February 2013. The work had a second performance at the ''Factoría de Arte y Desarrollo'', an artistic space in Madrid, in November 2013, and there was a third performance at the ''Houston International Performance Biennial'', in February 2014.


Exhibitions

Photographs, drawings and documentation of the work were part of the ''Art Is Hope'' charity exhibitions in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and ''Pride'' in New York. The former exhibiting in museums such as
Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo (''Tokyo Palace'') is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to ...
and the Perrotin Gallery, and also displayed at the
Piasa The Piasa ( ) or Piasa Bird is a creature from Native American mythology depicted in one of two murals painted by Native Americans on cliffsides above the Mississippi River. Its original location was at the end of a chain of limestone bluffs in ...
auction house in Paris. The New York exhibition and auction at ''Paddle8'' promoted sexual diversity and featured artists such as
Haring Haring is a surname of Austrian origin. Notable people with the surname include: * Inez M. Haring, (1875–1968) US botanist * John Haring (1739–1809), American lawyer and delegate to the Continental Congress * Keith Haring (1958–1990), Amer ...
,
Bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
,
Goldin Goldin is a surname that can independently be of English, German or Jewish origin. Notable people with the surname include: *Alexander Goldin (born 1964), Russian chess player * Amy Goldin (1926–1978), American art critic * Barry Goldin (born 197 ...
, Mapplethorpe,
Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...
or Azcona himself. In 2017 there were also exhibitions in museums such as the ''Tulla Center'' in the
Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
n capital
Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...
. ''The Juan Gallery'' in Madrid, which specializes in performance art, included this work in a retrospective exhibition, ''The Extinction of Desire'', which focused on works with sexual themes.


Evolution

Following on with the same concepts as ''Empathy and Prostitution'', the inaugural 2014 ''Queer New York Arts Festival'' was opened with a work by Azcona entitled ''Someone Else''. In this, physical or even sexual contact with the artist was required to enter the venue of the event, which was held at Grace Exhibition Space and the
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art (LLM), formerly the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, is a visual art museum in SoHo, Lower Manhattan, New York City. It mainly collects, preserves and exhibits visual arts created by LGBTQ artists or art ...
in New York City. This work was chosen by critic
Hrag Vartanian Hrag Vartanian ( hy, Հրակ Վարդանեան)(born ) is an Armenian-American arts writer, art critic, and art curator. He is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of the arts online magazine, '' Hyperallergic''. Life and work Vartanian was born ...
as one of the top ten of the year in New York City. At the end of 2014 and the early part of 2015, Azcona explored the processual work ''La Calle'' ("the street") this time in the ''Santa Fe'' neighborhood of Bogota, where he prostitutes himself on the streets. In this new work, he explored a change towards the figure of his mother, taking
hormones A hormone (from the Ancient Greek, Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of cell signaling, signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and beh ...
and engaging in prostitution. The process continued in the cities of Madrid and Mexico City. Thie performance emerged, as with the rest of his sex-themed works, as an exercise in empathy with his own
biological mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gesta ...
. It was also a social critique, where the artist explored the limits of his body by repeating patterns of sexual abuse, which occurred in his own childhood and in the life of his mother. In 2016, Azcona activated his last piece in this series, ''La Guerra'' (''The War''), which premiered at the ''Intramurs Festival'' in
Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
, Spain, which was again inspired by prostitution, criticism and sexuality. On this occasion, Azcona offered his naked body,
anesthetized Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), am ...
by the use of
narcotics The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...
, so that the visitor could use it freely.


Bibliography

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See also

*
Performance Art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
*
Installation Installation may refer to: * Installation (computer programs) * Installation, work of installation art * Installation, military base * Installation, into an office, especially a religious (Installation (Christianity) Installation is a Christian li ...
*
Endurance art Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from an ...
*
Prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
*
Drugs and prostitution Drugs and prostitution have been documented to have a direct correlation. Drug use tended to predate prostitution among low-level prostitutes with the connection most likely due to economic necessity. Low-level prostitutes tended to use depressan ...


References

{{Performance art Performances Male prostitution in the arts Works about prostitution in Spain