LADY INTO FOX
Concordia MFA Thesis Exhibition, 2013
Site-specific participatory theatre, performance, and installation
Duration: 1 hour
2013 Redpath Museum, Montreal, QC
Lady Into Fox, titled after the novella by British author David Garnett, is the late Victorian tale chronicling a woman's sudden transformation into a fox, and how she and her husband struggle to come to terms with her new physical form and the eventual changes they both undergo in their fundamental natures. Comprised of a filmic adaptation of the novella, a museum display of artifacts to support claims made in the book, with tea to follow in a Victorian parlor setting, the exhibition unfolds as a guided tour conducted by Dr. Aidan Gillian, founder and expert of the Lady Into Fox collection. As Dr. Gillian walks the public through the exhibition, he relates the significance of the film and artifacts to the novella, as well as situates them historically and scientifically. He is also available to field any questions the public has throughout the tour, as well as during the Question and Answer session at tea.
Lady Into Fox serves as an intervention into the scientific paradigms underpinning natural history museums; to elucidate their often troubling relationship with memory, narrative, allegory, gender, evidence, culture, museum display, archive, conservation, expert, agency, knowledge production, rhetoric, natural science methodologies, and technology.
SCREENING (Full film, duration 00:16:47)
Museum attendees were invited into the Red Path’s auditorium for the film screening of the adaptation of Lady Into Fox from the original novella into a short film.
Museum attendees were invited into the Red Path’s auditorium for the film screening of the adaptation of Lady Into Fox from the original novella into a short film.
GUIDED TOUR OF ARTIFACTS
Dr. Aidan Gillian walked attendees through the displays of artifacts supporting the claims made in the novella, including anatomical drawings, photographs, legal documents, a taxidermy fox, and more.
TEA IN THE PARLOUR
Tea in the parlour with a Q&A with Dr. Aidan Gillian.
DOWNLOADABLE PRESS RELEASE
| redpath_museum_press_release.pdf |
