Exhibition Dates

Private view & performance
Thursday 25^th July 2024
6 – 9pm

Performance on the opening
WEAPONS OF MASS ERECTION
performed by Mercedes666

RSVP by 22^nd July
info@mathildefriis.com

Public programmes

27th JULY
11am – 2pm

Workshop:
Self-made desire
with AJ Bravo

In this workshop, participants will be invited to explore the inner landscapes of their desire. Starting with a presentation on the history of smut, the workshop proposes a collage exercise where participants can imagine new desire icons. Using strategies borrowed from anarchist, punk and queer zinemaking, this workshop aims to generate a conversation around desire, relatability, and preconceptions about sexual imagery. 

Monday 29th JULY
7 – 8pm
Doors open at 6.30pm

Lover Presents: Selling Art & Selling Sex

Artist talk with
Modest Gold
Aj Bravo
Mercedes666

7th AUGUST
7 – 9pm
Lover Presents:
Screening + Artist talk with Vex Ashley

Tuesday – Saturday
12 – 6pm

CLOSED
Sunday / Monday

ASWAC
Vex Ashley
Betty
DaddyBear
Aj Bravo
Marнa Riot
M.J. McAlpine
Mercedes666
Modest Gold
Whoretographer

Curator
Mathilde Friis

Mathilde is a visual anthropologist and curator. Her work focuses on themes of sexuality, gender, visual, and digital culture.
She recently co-curated the exhibition ‘Virtual Beauty’ for HEK (House of Electronic Arts) in Basel, Switzerland, a major group exhibition exploring the often-unnoticed impact of technological advances to build alternative identities and transform human canons of beauty. Among her previous curatorial projects are ‘Sketches’ (2024), a solo presentation by Venezuelan artist Isabella Benshimol, and ‘Oops … something went wrong’ (2021), a collaboration with Goldsmiths University. Previously, she worked for GAGOSIAN (London) and most recently in their public project’s department.
She lives and works in London.

The upcoming group exhibition WORKING GIRLS! examines the intersection between contemporary art practice and the sex industry. The artists in this exhibition explore various aspects of the sex industry in their work, including fetishisation, gender and sexuality, kink, desire, fantasy, community, and friendship. Their artistic practices span multiple mediums, from textile, and photography, to painting and film.

This exhibition aims to challenge established societal norms by addressing the stigma often faced by sex workers, encouraging the audience to reflect on the boundaries between art, sex, labour, and the market.

The exhibition title references the eponymous film by LIZZIE BORDEN (1986), and the recent book by SOPHIA GIOVANNITTI – ‘WORKING GIRL: ON SELLING ART and SELLING SEX’ (Verso, 2023). In her book, Giovannitti argues that art and sex occupy similar positions under capitalism, being deemed inappropriate for commodification. Despite this, both are lucrative industries founded on the commodification of creativity, desire, authenticity, performativity, and intimacy. Also inspired by JULIA BRYAN-WILSON’s concept of ‘occupational realism’, this exhibition reflects on the labour practice of sex work as an art form, raising questions about labour performance and the value of artmaking.

This project is part of a practice-based PhD research initiated by MATHILDE FRIIS in 2022 as part of the VISUAL and MATERIAL CULTURE DEPARTMENT at NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY.
The exhibition is made possible with support from the FADSS RESEARCH SUPPORT FUND from Northumbria University.