Artists Donna Oblongata and Patrick Costello delivered one of Miami Art Week’s most unusual, memorable (and edible) exhibits.
“Privy Privy,” showed at Satellite Art Fair, which tends to showcase fresh talent and contemporary and experimental work. “Privy Privy” featured an enclosed disco room, go-go dancers, and the reveal of glory holes that distributed — of all things — ice cream.
The exhibit’s name references the structure of bathrooms and their underground and hidden practices or subcultures. The artists have worked together “on the edges of social practice, theater, and creative activism” for over a decade and typically on playful projects that offer collaborative joy. Additionally, the two tend to focus on art that serves a concrete experience as opposed to theory.
Costello and Oblongata’s idea emerged a few years ago, following the rise of anti-LGBTQ legislation. They brainstormed ways of “clowning the trend” before settling on this version of “Privy Privy” that was first shown in Philadelphia and New York City before receiving some of its biggest crowds in Miami.
Adults — the only ones permitted — who enter “Privy Privy’s” blackout room with club vibes are led by a dancing usher to one of several stalls. With little urging, viewers are then faced with a protruding arm holding a pretty decent quality ice cream cone. What happens after is entirely up to you, but it did appear that most attendees were game to nibble, lick, or consume the hundreds of ice cream cones over the five days of this showing.
But why ice cream?
According to Costello, the pair wanted the experience to result in a moment of sweetness shared between strangers. “An ice cream cone fit nicely through a gloryhole, and its dripping shape felt, appropriate.” He also pointed out that traditionally ice cream cones have come to represent something tempting, indulgent, possibly even a sinful treat, in a space that exists somewhere between pleasure and shame or public and private.
Oblongata expressed some of the practical points of a cone.
“If you’re looking for food that is a good stand-in for a dick, ice cream is it. The way you use your mouth in both situations are similar. Plus, it melts. If it was a lollipop or something, you could be there all day and never get anywhere. And if it was a banana, it would be too bitey. It just makes sense.”
When asked about the decision to focus the exhibit around this set up, Oblongata made it clear that as an artist, there would be no shying away from potential controversy. Especially not when, as she believes, the people who made gloryholes a thing are the same people who should be thanked for queer rights and visibility.
“They were doing that work when it was far more dangerous, and we — and the whole culture — owe them a great deal.”
Visit PrivyPrivy.vip for more information.
