The Hum

The Hum was developed as a collaboration between Chloë Brown and Berlin-based artist Ines Lechleitner during a residency at LoBe Project Space in Berlin in July 2010. The Zoologische Garten Berlin became their common ground of exchange, the culturally charged site of one the worlds’ first zoos becoming central to the resulting work. For the residency the artists developed a dialogue, which led to a body of work that acts as a visual and sonic conversation, collectively entitled The Hum: • 'The Hum': a film by Brown and Lechleitner based on the encounter with a young woman in the Predator House, focusing on her relationship with one of the tigers and her longing to touch the creature. (Duration: 3:30) • 'Gorilla Gorilla': a film by Brown of an aging female gorilla and her refusal to return the gaze of the onlookers. (Duration: 3:04) • 'Dialogue-Panthera Leo': a film by Brown, which captures and extends the moment when two lions roar. (Duration: 3:09) • 'Dialogue-Francolinus Francolinus' , 'Urban Birds' and 'Three Kookaburras, a donkey and a Lion': three sound pieces by Lechleitner 'The Hum' was originally shown at LoBe Gallery in Berlin (2010)

About dogs

Brown presented the video piece made in Istanbul entitled ‘Sticky Knots’ in order to open up the discussion around the human relationship with stray dogs. The subject of this video questions our usual understanding of ‘the stray’ as something to be feared. Rather in Istanbul, stray dogs are embraced and taken care of by their local communities. Is this the extreme version of the ‘sticky knots’ that tie dogs to humans, and humans to dogs as proposed by Donna Haraway in her book ‘When Species Meet’

Artists publications and the legacy of Sol LeWitt

Alongside the exhibition, 'Sol LeWitt: Artists Books', Chloë Brown organised and chaired a one-day conference, 'Artists Publications and the Legacy of Sol LeWitt', at Sheffield Hallam University (8/5/10), in collaboration with the Research Group for Artists Publications (RGAP) and Site Gallery, Sheffield. The conference explored the relevance and position of artists’ publications in contemporary art practice - focusing particularly on the bookworks of Sol LeWitt, and considering his legacy in terms of artist-publishing now. Keynote speakers and contributors: Professor Anne Moeglin-Delcroix, Simon Cutts, Clive Phillpot, David Bellingham, Elisabeth S Clark, and Philip Thomas

Aller à Ouessant: Vidéo sur L’Île # 2

Aller à Ouessant: Vidéo sur L’Île # 2 9-10 October 2010 Festival of video art on the island of Ouessant , France. Curated by: Ron Haselden, Marcel Dinalet, Celia Crétien and Catherine Elwes. Artists: Allora & Calzadilla, Maria Thereza Alves, Steven Ball, Pauline Bastard, Rob Bernard, Chloë Brown, Nick Collins, Daniel Crooks, Joseph Cutts, Anne Durez, Catherine Elwes, Michael Fliri, Inge Lise Hansen, Mathilde Hess, Matt Hulse, Katia Kameli, Bouchra Khalili, Sigalit Landau, Hervé Le Nost, Erwan Mahéo, Marion Mahu, Julia Oschatz, Françoise Parfait, Laurent Pernel, Wiliam Raban and Catherine Rannou. Chloë Brown showed the short film 'The Hyperborean'

Salon: Zoo

A seminar organised by artists Andrea Roe, Lucy Powell and Sara Barnes to discuss issues around The Zoo, with presentations by Chloë Brown (artist), Ines Lechleitner (artist) and Dr. Olivia Judson (evolutionary biologist and writer). Guests: Dr. Frieder Mayer (Curator of Mammals at Naturkundemuseum, Berlin), Laura Schleusser (Independent Art Curator), Nora Lange (Mammal Collection Manager at Naturkundemuseum, Berlin) and Anne Hoelck (Scenographer - researching the design of zoo enclosures). Chloë Brown and Ines Lechleitner presented and discussed their collaborative project 'The Hum', developed following their residency at Berlin's Zoologische Garten

'Susan Spinning' and 'Peter Spinning'

'Susan Spinning' and 'Peter Spinning' are two pieces created by Chloë Brown for 'The Broadcaster', two permanent village notice boards that act as exhibition spaces located outside two converted Chapels in villages (Waddington and Wellingore) in rural Lincolnshire, curated by The Postmethodists: Danica Maier, Gerard Williams, John Plowman and Nicola Streeten.. They take the form of a storyboard or even a flick book, the images capturing the moment, frame by frame, when a dancer (one female, one male) spins as part of a more elaborate dance sequence. This work has been developed from Brown’s film Dancing in the Boardroom (Turnin’My Heartbeat Up) (2013, duration 5:33 HD). The film focuses on two Northern Soul dancers dancing with passion in the empty, once splendid Boardroom at the now disused Spode Factory, Stoke-on-Trent. The exhibition of these two images, each outside it’s own Methodist chapel, plays on the idea of sanctity associated with a place and challenges the idea of inappropriate and subtly subversive behaviour. The two pieces situated in the noticeboards (or Broadcasters) located in neighbouring villages speak to each other and should be considered as one piece in two locations.</p

On Being Trans: Narrative, Identity, Performance, and Community

This thesis focuses on various topics related to transgender identity and culture. Through a combination of ethnographic and secondary research, I studied transgender coming out narratives, trans media representation, transgender performance and identity, and conceptualizations of group and chosen family in a community of trans students, the WKU Transgender and Non-Binary Student Group. The three chapters of my thesis address some of the traditional milestones of a trans person’s acculturation: coming out, constructing one’s newly discovered trans identity, and finding community. Chapter 1 explores coming out as transgender, and the way in in which coming out is valued and discussed within trans communities. Chapter 2 discusses transgender representation, and how gender presentation is contested and complicated by transfolk. Chapter 2 also addresses trans media representation, and the way in which transfolk create their own media representation in the absence of adequate and accurate trans representation in popular culture. Chapter 3 provides an in-depth analysis of the WKU Transgender and Non-Binary Student Group, discusses how the group functions as a chosen family, and explores the way in which group membership helps group members mitigate stigma and deal with trauma

Salon: Zoo

A seminar organised by artists Andrea Roe, Lucy Powell and Sara Barnes to discuss issues around The Zoo, with presentations by Chloë Brown (artist), Ines Lechleitner (artist) and Dr. Olivia Judson (evolutionary biologist and writer). Guests: Dr. Frieder Mayer (Curator of Mammals at Naturkundemuseum, Berlin), Laura Schleusser (Independent Art Curator), Nora Lange (Mammal Collection Manager at Naturkundemuseum, Berlin) and Anne Hoelck (Scenographer - researching the design of zoo enclosures). Chloë Brown and Ines Lechleitner presented and discussed their collaborative project 'The Hum', developed following their residency at Berlin's Zoologische Garten

Brutalist Speculations and Flights of Fancy

Symposium and book launch of the publication of the same name which considers six of Sheffield’s Brutalist buildings. Artists: Christl Mudrak, Dominique Hurth, Olivia Reynolds with Jon Moscow, Ines Lechleitner, Irene Pätzug , Oliver Zwink, Valentin Hertweck, Peter Klare, Stephan Hüsch, Michelle Atherton, Chloë Brown, Matthew Harrison, Jaspar Joseph-Lester, Sharon Kivland, T C McCormack, Penny McCarthy, Becky Shaw, Gary Simmonds, Hester Reeve, Andrew Sneddon, Julie Westerman. Writers & Speakers: Owen Hatherley, Professor Steve Pile and Professor Jane Rendel