Master Class THE HYBRID-MONSTER BODY: Shapeshifting as Rebellion by Jasmine Reimer

“The Hybrid-Monster Body: Shapeshifting as Rebellion” is a 5-day intensive program held in a studio environment hosted by BERLIN ART INSTITUTE. In this masterclass we will learn about the hybrid body in 15th and 16th century Italy, with a focus on hybrids found in Grotesque-style paintings in the Domus Aurea. In addition to analyzing art historical and contemporary hybrid bodies – their representation, motifs and symbolism – the course also explores the Grotesque genre and its socio-political context and effects. We will explore how the ancient hybrid body, with its shape-shifting form, disruptive imagery and rebellious nature, challenged conservative ideals, the new bodily cannon, gender binaries and inter-species relations with images once considered “monstrous”. Using feminist and queer theory, fiction, podcasts and other sources, we will examine how 15/16th century ideologies compare with current gender and identity politics and the concept of “normal” in relation to the body. We will identify and explore the contemporary hybrid body as a generative form of monstrosity and its significance in contemporary culture.

In 15th century Rome, a boy fell through an air pocket in the ground. Below was the Domus Aurea constructed by the ancient emperor Nero. After Nero’s death in 68AD, the city buried the Domus Aurea in the earth. Upon its re-discovery, visitors (those brave enough to crawl through its dark subterranean domain) encountered a cave-like world, featuring murals of bizarre, fantastical hybrid bodies – bodies that transformed from human to animal to plant to architectural element to object, and back again. They discovered the style of artwork we now call Grotesque.

Following the re-discovery of the Domus Aurea, avant garde artists in the 15th and 16th centuries (i.e., Perugino, Signorelli, and the famous Raphael) mastered the ancient techniques of the Grotesque style. Initially rejected by dominant social classes, historians and critics, it soon grew in popularity, manifesting in both visual and literary forms. Because, more than just decoration, Grotesque style hybrid was a form of political defiance. Its “monstrous” imagery rebelled against the authoritative, restrictive, bourgeois ideas of normality, beauty and taste established during the renaissance – that of smooth, perfectly proportioned and uniform bodies.
Of particular importance to the Grotesque aesthetic was a body that blurs and exceeds limitations, that exhibits multiplicity and fluidity – legs that transform into vines, stomachs and eyes that bulge, bodies that mesh and interconnect. Seen as “mutant, terrible, unnatural, out-of-order and disrespectful”, the hybrid body was classified as a monster. But it was its innate rebelliousness, its ability to defy, provoke and contest that makes the hybrid-monster body a powerful symbol of transformation, change and resistance. Refusing to be bound by the rigid categories of patriarchy, colonialism and capitalism, the hybrid-monster body poses a threat to our need for simplicity, gender binaries, single-species policies and fixed identities.

During the course participants will explore the above-mentioned characteristics and features of the Grotesque hybrid-monster through classic and contemporary readings, podcasts and videos, in addition to research, presentations and discussion. In keeping with the subject of the course, participants will investigate the significance of Grotesque hybrid-monster body in ancient and contemporary cultures via exercises that combine found and made objects, 2D and 3D materials, written and visual elements. The curriculum is based on a feminist understanding of transformation, the body and the hybrid-monster body as they relate to acts of resistance, and gender, reproductive and identity politics. Focusing on the hybrid as a generative, critical symbol and potential model for socio-political change, we will explore the hybrid-monster as a way to avoid binary thinking, and move beyond patriarchal, capitalist systems and ideologies. (Text & photos by courtesy of Jasmine Reimer )

Day 1
9:30 AM Reception at the BAI
UNNATURAL, DISRESPECTFUL, MONSTERS”: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CLASSIC HYBRID

Morning Session:

1. Group Introduction
To begin the class, Jasmine will briefly introduce her teaching approach. The group will also have an opportunity to introduce themselves and their practices.

2.  Presentation and Drawing Prompts
After the introduction, Jasmine will lead a presentation titled, “Unnatural, Disrespectful, Monsters”: An Introduction to Mythical Thinking and the Classic Hybrid”, with opportunities for discussion, questions and small exercises throughout.

Presentation Topics include:

• Introduction: Neolithic mythical thinking and hybridity
• Introduction: The Neolithic goddess hybrid and her symbols
• Introduction: Roman hybrids and the Domus Aurea
• Introduction: The grotesque style, hybrids and their symbolism
• Introduction: The grotesque body in literature and cultural theory
• Introduction: The grotesque body qualities

LUNCH – approx. 45mins

Afternoon Session:

3. In-Class Drawing Exercise Part 1: Hybrid and the Fugitive Sheet
Jasmine will introduce fugitive sheets and their historical context. Following the concepts and illustrations featured in the essay “Monsters and the Maternal Imagination”, Jasmine will lead the class in the construction of a fugitive sheet – a layered, collaged drawing that features flaps of paper or transparent sections revealing images underneath the surface of the paper. Participants will have time on the second day to complete the fugitive sheet and discuss with the class.

4. End-of-Day Sketchbook Exercise: Cluster Writing 1
Each session will end with individual journal/sketchbook entries prompted by the end-of-day discussion. Participants will also have an opportunity to discuss subjects and ideas from the first day. *Please note, in some cases, the Cluster Writing exercise may be assigned as homework.

Day 2
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE HYBRID BODY

Morning Session:

1. Presentation: “The Rise and Fall of the Hybrid Body”
After a short break, Jasmine will lead a presentation titled, “The Rise and Fall of the Hybrid Body”, with opportunities for group discussion, questions and small exercises throughout.

Presentation Topics include:

• The spread of the grotesque style in Italy and Europe
• Key hybrid symbols and their appropriation in nationalist/colonial images
• Political/religious antagonism towards the grotesque hybrid body
• In defense of the grotesque style and the body – art’s right to imagination
• The decline of the hybrid and rise of a new bodily cannon (ableist, white and male)

LUNCH – approx. 45mins

Afternoon Session:

2. In-Class Drawing Exercise Part 2: Fugitive Sheets
The afternoon session offers participants the opportunity to continue to work on the fugitive sheet exercise, implementing imagery or ideas from the presentation and discussion. Participants will have time to discuss the project with the class upon completion.

3. Daily Sketchbook Exercise: Cluster Writing 2
The day will end with individual journal/sketchbook entries. Participants will be asked to review the journal entry from Cluster 1 looking for any similarities, overlaps in subject and ideas, or differences. Participants will then write a new entry based on their observations.

*Please note, in some instances, the Cluster Writing exercise may be assigned as homework.

Homework 

• Reading: excerpts of Mikhail Bakhtin “Rabelais and his World: Carnival and the Feast” TBA
•  Participants will be asked to bring found materials to the next class for a mask-making assignment. 

Day 3
THE HYBRID BODY AS MONSTROUS

Morning Session:

1. Participant Presentations of Grotesque
The day will begin with participant presentations of their grotesque selection, followed by a short coffee break

COFFEE BREAK – approx. 15 minutes

2. Presentation and Discussion
Jasmine will lead a presentation titled, “The New Grotesque in Contemporary Culture” with opportunities for discussion, questions and small exercises throughout.

Presentation Topics include:

• From grotesque to gross: the devaluing of the grotesque
• The contemporary grotesque in literature, film and art
• The grotesque as “particularly female”
• The grotesque as activism: political satire and caricature
• The new grotesque as monstrous: racism and “the other”

LUNCH – approx. 45mins

Afternoon Session:

3. In-Class Exercise 2 Part 2: Grotesque Mask Making
Participants will continue to work on their mask making project, integrating ideas, materials, imagery and concepts from the presentation and other sources. Jasmine will guide the class in techniques, mask building, material use etc,. Participants will have another work period on Day 5 to complete the masks.

Homework

• Daily Sketchbook Exercise:  Cluster Writing 4
  The day will end with a journal/sketchbook entry. Participants will be asked to reread the entries from Cluster 3, looking for related themes, patterns, and questions. Participants will then be asked to create a new entry based on their observations.
  
• Listening and Drawing Exercise: Bayo Okomolafe Keynote Lecture “Democracy and Belonging” 2023, Berlin
  Participants will engage in an independent listening and drawing exercise at home. Listening to the presentation by Cultural Critic, Poet and Activist, Bayo Okomolafe. Participants will draw and/or write down ideas motivated by the podcast topic.
• Listening and Drawing Exercise: “Vampyre Toothyess”, podcast episode Objecthood #4, MACBA, 2018, start at 47:37 with the words “Human existence…”
  Participants will engage in an independent listening and drawing exercise at home. Listening to the podcast using the MACBA radio podcast on hybrid “vampire squid from hell”. Participants will draw and/or write down ideas motivated by the podcast topic.

*Participants should come to the following class prepared to share their drawings, ideas and/or writing with the group.

Day 5
THE HYBRID-MONSTER BODY NOW

Morning Session:

1. Participant Presentations of Homework
The day will begin with participant presentations of their assigned task, “Drawing and Listening – Bayo Okomolafe”

2. Presentation: “The Hybrid-Monster Body Now”
Jasmine will lead a final short, concluding presentation on the topic of “The Hybrid-Monster Body Now” with opportunities for group discussion, questions and small exercises throughout.

Presentation Topics include:

• The body as a “beast in need of control” – historical origins of body regulation
• The female body as susceptible to evil and monstrous acts
• Contemporary hybrid-monsters and “body horror” genre
• Post-humanism and the hybrid-monster

LUNCH – approx. 45mins

Afternoon Session:

3. In-Class Exercise Part 3: Grotesque Mask Making – Completion 
Participants will continue to work on their mask making project, integrating ideas, materials, imagery and concepts from the presentation and other sources. Participants who finish their mask early can complete the final cluster writing exercise as listed below.

4. Daily Sketchbook Exercise: Cluster Writing 5, In Class
Using the journal/sketchbook entries made in the previous classes, participants will create new hybrid-monster “clusters” based on their previous writing. Reviewing their entries, each participant will write a new entry based on the similarities, overlaps and/or differences found between days. The new “cluster” should be an experimental writing piece that reflects the individual’s ideas about hybrid-monster bodies and how it relates to their individual practices.

5. Group Discussion – Completed Masks
The final day of the course will end with a group discussion/presentation of their grotesque masks. Participants will have the opportunity to share their work and ideas and provide feedback to peers. In addition, participants will also have the opportunity to share feedback about the class and its subjects.

Hours: Each day from 10 AM – 4 PM (including several breaks & lunchtime)

Seats: Min: 6 | Max: 20 | Language: English

Fees: There is a one-off registration fee of €50. The participation fee is €850 per person (without accommodation).

The fee is VAT-exempt by the Governing Mayor of Berlin – Senate Chancellery Higher Education and Research pursuant to Paragraph 4 No. (21) (a)(bb) UStG (German Value Added Tax Act).