“Yeah, I think I’ll be remembered… as the voice of the 60s… Andy Warhol, the Beatles and me!” – Jacqueline Susann

Join us in experiencing the latest work-in-progress performance by Mateik, composed of interactions between a video and live performers. With collaborators Mateik and media historian Amy Herzog in attendance, our backyard will be open for drinks and conversation during this special evening. Without a Cigarette and a Blindfold reimagines the set of the film Valley of the Dolls (1966) based on Jackie Susann’s novel of the same name, featuring the character Helen Lawson in part inspired by Judy Garland. Recycling archival footage with staged interventions, Mateik interrogates the relationship between Judy the person, Judy the icon and the thinly-veiled characterization of Helen Lawson/Judy. Occurring at the end of Pride Month, this performance further highlights Garland’s queer camp iconography and the connection of her death with the Stonewall riots.

In his videos, performances, and assemblage, Mateik cast himself as myriad theoretical and cultural transvestites from media culture, competitive sport, and weird science. This practice includes regular participation in a collaborative process that fosters transfeminism, an inclusive feminism that integrates the lived experience of genderqueer people and extends important feminist concerns beyond the limits of rigidly defined gender. His work has been supported by Creative Capital Foundation, The MacDowell Colony, Experimental Television Center Film Art Grant, and PSC-CUNY and exhibited at international venues including MOMA PS1 Greater New York Cinema, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Dixon Place, Roebling Hall, and Reena Spaulings in New York; Outfest and LACE, Los Angeles, CA; Aurora Pictures, Houston, TX; Oberhausen Short Film Festival, Germany; and The Images Festival, Toronto, Canada. His videos are distributed by the Video Data Bank.