Wetzer & Baauw
"a serene and humorous fine art duo"
Wetzer & Baauw is a collaboration between Hanneke Wetzer and Leonie Baauw.
They met each other at the art academy and share a fascination with skin, genderdiversity and identity. With their project X and some other chromosome they focus on these themes.
Men To Be.
"The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach."
Girls want to be boys. Boys that they love.
In the triptych 'MEN TO BE' Wetzer & Baauw use masculine metaphors of consumption to give an ode to the artists they admire.
X%Y%
In the project X%Y% Wetzer & Baauw took a photographical sample of 100 people. The portraits include an infographic that displays how much the portrayed actually feels masculine and/or feminine.
The series shows a large grey area between '100% male' and '100% female', instead of the conventional M/F that is bipolar. This series was the starting point of the expo GenderBlender in MU. The project leads to discussion. What is gender? What makes someone a man or a woman? Is it nature or nurture? Apart from our physical internal and external bodies and some genes and hormones, what really defines a man or a woman psychologically? And how much does it matter?
The full series of 100 portraits with quotes can be viewed on Flickr
Transfusion.
What is a man? What is a woman?
We assume that a human with XY chromosomes, two testicles and a penis is a man. A human with XX chromosomes, two ovaries and a vagina is a woman.
But the biology shows that it’s not that clear. For example, the genes package can be XXY, someone can be born with both female and male sexual characteristics, or born as a ’boy’ but feel a girl from the inside.
There are many more ways a distinction can be made between a man or woman than on the basis of appearance and secondary sexual characteristics.
What is your ideal face?
The puzzle Transfusion by Wetzer & Baauw focuses on anatomy and secondary sexual characteristics. By using the life size puzzle pieces, visitors can compose their own imaginary body and play with the gray area between man and woman.
As a special GenderBlender merchandise gift Wetzer & Baauw developed a small facial version of the Transfusion puzzle.
Don’t be a man. Act like a lady.
The short film ‘Don’t be a man. Act like a lady.’ of Wetzer & Baauw (07:13 min) is a silent protest against obstinate gender roles.
Music by Hills.
WeTransfuse
Natural Plastic Surgery - MUD Magazine placed a Wetransfuse advertorial in their third issue.
What body do you want to have?
WeTransfuse is a fictive ‘body-part-swap-site’ which offers astonishing possibilities for anyone looking for genuine otherness, women craving for a flat man’s breast or hairy legs, men hungry for elegant piano hands, delicate female ears or a set of fleshy not silicone breasts.
WeTransfuse raises ethical questions about the future technical achievements and limits of plastic surgery.