IL CASTRATO
About
The Gender Bender Gay Culture Festival co-prodced the twenty-odd minute long performance titled Il Castrato, which took the form of a on act Baroque opera. In the opera’s finale, the Maestro and Gloria Viagra plucked the drag queen (Kozyra) from the audience and castrated her. Stripped of dresses and wig, the „drag queen” recovered” her androgynous appearance with an artificial little body and genitals that granted her all the characteristics of a young boy. Following this scene, accomplished by those who were to teach her femininity, the artist sang Schubert’s „Ave Maria” before riding off on a white steed. While in the previous projects of this series, Kozyra sought to become, transform into, or dress up as a woman/ princess/star, in this episode she reverted to her boyish looks in order to undergo nearly literal castration. type of object: video date: 2006 material/technique: video dimensions: 14'54"
