ID-clash

An intercultural performance and installation project on trans identity
by Angie Hiesl + Roland Kaiser

Male? Female? Other?

ID-clash throws the exclusive nature of the gender binary into question. As soon as one moves away from a strictly binary system of gender, countless possibilities and models of gender self-definition present themselves. The project focuses on different concepts for living and stages of transformation.

In ID-clash transgender performers from Europe and Latin America encounter with representatives of the hijra culture, the “third gender”, from Bangladesh. In Europe, the individual lifestyles of transgender people are shaped by opposing social attitudes that range from tolerance to rejection, tabooisation and prejudice.

The lifestyle of the hijras in southern Asia follows a centuries-old mythological tradition. Genetically speaking, hijras are generally men who have the outward appearance of women but who do not feel as if they belong to either of the two sexes. They call themselves the “third gender”.

Press

“As always with Angie Hiesl + Roland Kaiser, the images grow and fade like plants. Meditative and repetitive, they play with connotations, and are mildly shocking and hypnotising.”
akt.47 Kölner Theaterzeitung, November 2013 / Dorothea Marcus

Premiere: Cologne, 2013
Further performances in: Dhaka (BGD), Düsseldorf (GER)
Supported by: Modul Dance / EU Culture, Cologne City Council, Arts Foundation North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V., Goethe Institute Bangladesh, Frauenkultur e.V., National Performance Network (NPN) for international guest performances in dance