{"id":9510,"date":"2018-12-05T21:01:56","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T02:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=9510"},"modified":"2018-12-05T21:20:07","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T02:20:07","slug":"macon-reed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/12\/05\/macon-reed\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Eulogy For The Dyke Bar\u2019 Ponders The \u2018Mass Closing\u2019 Of Lesbian Bars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Macon Reed has said she created her immersive \u201cEulogy for the Dyke Bar\u201d<\/a> installation \u201cto push people to really consider what it would mean to have these spaces\u2014dyke and lesbian bars\u2014actually not exist anymore, kind of be extinct.\u201d It\u2019s her response to the \u201cmass closing of dyke bars,\u201d a place to consider the ramifications. (Reed stresses that she\u2019s using the \u201creclaimed term \u2018dyke\u2019 in its most expansive sense and recognizes that gender and identities are complex and fluid.\u201d)<\/p>\n

When it debuted as part of the Brooklyn artist\u2019s residency at Wayfarers Gallery in New York<\/a> in 2015, it featured neon signs in the storefront window reading \u201cDyke\u201d and \u201cBar.\u201d Inside was a pool table and bar backed by a row of bottles that looked kind of like they were sculpted from kids\u2019 clay (actually they\u2019re mainly cardboard and joint compound, plus some wood). On the faux wood panel walls, she displayed farewell letters from lesbian bars that had closed over the years.<\/p>\n

\"Nov.<\/a>
Nov. 15 reception for Macon Reed’s \u201cEulogy for the Dyke Bar\u201d at University of Southern Maine\u2019s AREA Gallery.
(Photo: Liz Brown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A new version of \u201cEulogy for the Dyke Bar\u201d\u2014on view at AREA Gallery in Woodbury Campus Center of the University of Southern Maine\u2019s Portland Campus through Dec. 7<\/a>\u2014rejiggers it a bit, offering the neon signs and the faux wood paneling with a smaller bar, a jukebox, archival images of dyke bars around the country, and video from \u201cQueering the Past: Maine LGBTQ Oral History Project.\u201d<\/p>\n

The installation, Reed writes on her website, asks: \u201cWhy are these spaces closing? How do cultural and socio-economic factors, such as assimilation or gentrification, contribute to this phenomenon? Are the same factors impacting spaces for gay men? What role have physical spaces such as dyke bars played in the past and how has that changed over time? How do we learn from these spaces and move forward in creating new ones that are safe and affirming for all female and feminine- spectrum communities while embracing expansive notions of gender and sexuality across generations?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Macon<\/a>
Macon Reed’s \u201cEulogy for the Dyke Bar\u201d at Wayfarers Gallery in New York, 2015.
(Courtesy Macon Reed)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reed attributes the disappearance of dyke bars to the tighter economics for women in a society that routinely pays them less than men, the assimilation of queer culture into mainstream society, people connecting more via internet, gentrification, and rising rents forcing proprietors out.<\/p>\n

Seeing \u201cEulogy for the Dyke Bar\u201d as an art exhibition, it appears as a sort of memorial. But in New York and during a Nov. 15 reception in Portland, the bar came alive for drinks and mingling. And folks got up to share their experiences in and around queer bars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat really stood out to me through the experience,\u201d Reed told Alexandria Deters for the website Gallery Gurls<\/a> earlier this year, \u201cwas the opportunity to bring queers\/dykes of different generations together because there is a lot of tension, misunderstanding, and dismissal between generations around shifting understandings of lived gender experience and opportunities, of each groups’ historical and contemporary contexts, of what it has meant to be a woman and\/or queer in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activisms (and our great festivals) by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Macon<\/a>
Macon Reed’s \u201cEulogy for the Dyke Bar\u201d at Wayfarers Gallery in New York, 2015.
(Courtesy Macon Reed)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Macon<\/a>
Macon Reed’s \u201cEulogy for the Dyke Bar\u201d at University of Southern Maine\u2019s AREA Gallery.
(Photo: Liz Brown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Macon<\/a>
Macon Reed’s \u201cEulogy for the Dyke Bar\u201d at University of Southern Maine\u2019s AREA Gallery.
(Photo: Liz Brown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Macon<\/a>
Macon Reed’s \u201cEulogy for the Dyke Bar\u201d at University of Southern Maine\u2019s AREA Gallery.
(Photo: Liz Brown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Macon Reed has said she created her immersive \u201cEulogy for the Dyke Bar\u201d installation \u201cto push people to really consider what it would mean to have these spaces\u2014dyke and lesbian bars\u2014actually not exist anymore, kind of be extinct.\u201d It\u2019s her response to the \u201cmass closing of dyke bars,\u201d a place to consider the ramifications. (Reed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[489,178,488],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9510"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9510"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9527,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9510\/revisions\/9527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}