Thinking outside the box
Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam (NL), 2019
The lines around the boxes ‘male’ and ‘female’ seem to be getting increasingly blurry. What do museumgoers think of this? And how do they see themselves?
Genderful world
The retailer HEMA has dropped the words ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ from its children's clothing labels, and the Dutch railway company NS begins its PA announcements with “Dear travellers”. The Tropenmuseum’s temporary exhibition ‘What a Genderful World’ shows how people have viewed gender over time and in different parts of the world. Working with the museum, we developed several media installations that challenge visitors with regard to how they think about and look at gender.
Posing as men and women
In one interactive, a photo booth, visitors are invited to pose in masculine and feminine ways and as themselves. Through comparing the poses, they become aware of the stereotypical way we think about gender. The other interactive, a poll, asks visitors to share their opinions about certain gender-related case studies. What do they think of gender-neutral child-rearing? Should there be gender-free toilets? The two films look at role-reinforcing and role-defying examples from the music industry and the world of advertising.
“An exhibition that makes you reconsider your own role patterns and conscious and unconscious assumptions!”
Blog Cultuur Snuiver — 20 October 2019
Credits
Client
TropenmuseumSpatial Design
Studio Harm RensinkGraphic Design
HeyHeydeHaasContent Design Digital Media
Studio LouterFilm & Interactive Media Production
Studio Louter