Queer Paranormal (an exhibition concerning Shirley Jackson and The Haunting of Hill House)

October 29 - December 7 2019, Usdan Gallery, Bennington College, Bennington, VT

 

Queer Paranormal presents a range of artistic practices “haunted” by historical, political and sexual difference. Taking Jackson’s gothic horror classic and its 1963 film version as jumping-off points, the group exhibition identifies queerness in themes including the uncanny and the stranger, with a particular interest in the haunted house as undiscovered country and object of desire. Site-specifically located in North Bennington, where Jackson wrote The Haunting of Hill House as well as her short story "The Lottery," Queer Paranormal will install works in mediums including painting, sculpture, video, sound and performance in Bennington College’s Usdan Gallery and also Jennings music building—a former mansion believed to be haunted and said to have partly influenced Jackson’s conception of Hill House. 

Curated by the New York-based group Two Chairs (Jillian Brodie, Cindy Smith and Rachel Stevens) and Anne Thompson, Director and Curator of Usdan Gallery. Special thanks to Two Chairs members Yinan Cheng, E.H. Dalton and George Wichelns.

Participating Artists

Peggy Ahwesh, APRIORI (techno-botanical coven), Anna Campbell, Tony Do, Lana Lin, Susan MacWilliam, Senem Pirler, Macon Reed, Zoe Walsh, and Sasha Wortzel.

Read the curatorial statement by the Two Chairs collective, with an afterward by Anne Thompson, director of and curator of Usdan Gallery.

McGeeney, Makayla-Courtney. "Exhibit explores sexual ambiguity in Shirley Jackson's best known novel."  Bennington Banner. October 25.

web2019-11-11_Queer_Paranormal_025.jpg
2019-11-11_Queer_Paranormal_017 (1).jpg
2019-11-11_Queer_Paranormal_068 (1).jpg