Jess Dobkin (born 1970) is a performance artist based in Toronto, Canada.[1] She is best known for her 2006 work The Lactation Station.
Jess Dobkin | |
|---|---|
 Jess Dobkin, Lactation Station promotional photo | |
| Born | 1970 |
| Alma mater | Oberlin College, Rutgers University |
| Known for | performance artist |
| Notable work | Lactation Station Breast Milk Bar (2006) |
| Movement | Feminism, Queer, LGBTQ |
| Website | jessdobkin |
She has a Bachelor of Arts in women's studies from Oberlin College, and a Master of Fine Arts in performance art from Rutgers University. She is a fellow at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto.
Career
editDobkin first emerged as a performance artist in 2002.[1] Her work draws on her experience as a lesbian and a mother.[2] Her body often figures prominently in her performances. For example, Fee for Service (2006), was a performance installation where audience members were invited to sharpen a pencil in Dobkin's vagina.[3][4]
Dobkin is also known as a community organizer and often combines this with her creative work. In May 2015, after a successful crowdfunding campaign, she collaborated with many Toronto artists to create an alternative newsstand in a vacant kiosk at Chester station in Toronto for one year. Meant as a "creative exchange" for commuters, the kiosk acted as a space for artists' exhibitions and performances, while still functioning as a newsstand selling newspapers, magazines, and snacks for a "monetary exchange."[5]
Dobkin sometimes collaborates with other performance artists, including Martha Wilson, founder of the Franklin Furnace Archive.[6]
Dobkin was a frequent performer at Montreal's Edgy Women feminist performance festival between the years 2004 and 2010.[7]
Major exhibitions
editIn 2006, Dobkin exhibited The Lactation Station in Toronto at OCAD University's Professional Gallery, curated by Paul Couillard of FADO.[8] In this exhibition, Dobkin invited audience members to sample human breast milk. The exhibition, which was partly funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, gained widespread attention and prompted Health Canada to issue a national warning against the online sale of human breast milk.[5][9] It was remounted in 2012 as part of Montreal's OFFTA Festival in co-presentation with Studio 303 at Usine C.[10][11]
In 2009, Dobkin performed "Being Green," a video work in which she sings "Bein' Green" while dressed as Kermit the Frog and being fisted by another actor dressed as Jim Henson.[12]
In 2015, Dobkin created How Many Performance Artists Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb (For Martha Wilson) and performed it at the Enoch Turner School in Toronto as part of the Images Festival. The work was an ode to one of America’s foremost performance artists, Martha Wilson. Dobkin's work was inspired by Martha Wilson’s 2005 video titled A History of Performance Art According to Me, which examined the history of performance art. It had multiple co-presenters, including the University of Toronto, York University, OCAD University, FADO Performance Art Centre, and the Toronto-Dominion Bank.[13]
In 2021, the Art Gallery of York University presented Dobkin's first solo retrospective exhibition, Wetrospective, curated by Emelie Chhangur.[14][15] A book retrospective on Dobkin's work edited by Laura Levin, Jess Dobkin’s Wetrospective: Constellating performance archives, was published in 2024.[16]
Works
edit- MONOMYTHS, 2017
- The Magic Hour, 2016
- The Artist-Run Newsstand, 2015 - 2016
- How Many Performance Artists Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb (For Martha Wilson), 2015
- The Performance Art Army, 2014
- Acting/Performing/Audience, 2014 (co-directed with Shannon Cochrane)
- Performance Artist for Hire, 2013
- Free Childcare Provided, 2013
- Affirmations for Artists, 2012
- Bleeding at the Ball, 2011
- Everything I've Got, 2010
- Being Green, 2009
- Mirror Ball, 2008-2009
- Clown Car, 2008
- The Lactation Station, 2006-2012
- Fee for Service, 2006
- Emergency Exits, 2006
- Restored, 2004
- Attending, 2003-2005
- The Two Boobs, 2003
- Composite Body, 2003
- The Mad Chef, 2000-2003
- Six Degrees of Lesbian Nation, 2003
- Magic Trick, 2003
- An Ontario Bride Seeks American Wives, 2003
- Talk to Me, 2001
Personal life
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Gillespie, Benjamin (1 January 2012). "Giving us "Everything She's Got": Processing the Script-as-Archive in Jess Dobkin's Queer Performance Art". Canadian Theatre Review. 149: 52–63. doi:10.3138/ctr.149.52. ISSN 0315-0836.
- ^ Reeve, Charles (2012). Buller, Rachel Epp (ed.). Reconciling Art and Mothering. Farnham: Ashgate. pp. 125–136. ISBN 978-1-4094-2613-4.
- ^ Krpan, Pike (2009). "Body of Work". Shameless: 30.
- ^ Zerihan, Rachel (25 September 2022). "Intercourse Discourse in One-to-One Performance: Explicit Approaches to Interaction". The Cultural Politics of One-to-One Performance. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 131–151. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-47755-2_5. ISBN 978-1-137-47755-2.
- ^ a b Clarke, Katrina (20 May 2015). "Artists take over Chester subway station newsstand for one year". The Star. Toronto Star. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
- ^ "How Many Performance Artists Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb For Martha Wilson". blogTO. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
- ^ "Archives / Edgy Women". Studio 303. Retrieved 2022-07-19.
- ^ "Sense and sensibilities". NOW Toronto. 20 July 2006.
- ^ Weeks, Carly (13 July 2006). "Human milk sold online carries HIV risk: Warning". The Ottawa Citizen.
- ^ Loveless, Natalie (2 July 2019), Robinson, Hilary; Buszek, Maria Elena (eds.), "Maternal Mattering: The Performance and Politics of the Maternal in Contemporary Art", A Companion to Feminist Art (1st ed.), Wiley, pp. 475–491, doi:10.1002/9781118929179.ch27, ISBN 978-1-118-92915-5, S2CID 203048662
- ^ Chan, Crystal (23 May 2012). "Breast milk's on tap at the OFFTA with Jess Dobkin's Lactation Station". Nightlife. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
- ^ "Jess Dobkin, a Performance Artist With a Unique Sense of Humor". Artmerit. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
- ^ "How Many Performance Artists Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb (For Martha Wilson)". IMAGES FESTIVAL. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017.
- ^ "Jess Dobkin's Wetrospective". The Joan and Martin Goldfarb Gallery. 2 September 2021.
- ^ "Jess Dobkin's Wetrospective". Feminine Moments. 27 August 2021.
- ^ "Jess Dobkin's Wetrospective: Constellating performance archives". The Joan and Martin Goldfarb Gallery. 16 October 2024.
- ^ Alland, Sandra (5 July 2006). "Performance art: The Lactation Station". Xtra Magazine.
- ^ Fuhrmann, Mike (15 June 2006). "Performance artist offers breast milk tastings". Toronto Star.
