Trisha Baga. There’s No “I” in Trisha
09.09.–15.10.2022
Opening 09.09.

In collaboration with Société, beacon is pleased to present There’s No “I” in Trisha by American artist Trisha Baga.

Taking the form of a television series in four seasons, the installation There’s No “I” in Trisha (2005–07/2020), filmed between 2005 and 2007, is set in a domestic space and questions the gender stereotypes of its characters, all of which are played by the artist. The installation welcomes visitors into a living room resembling a typical American sitcom set while a nearby monitor screens a teenage love drama with Baga as sole actor, director, and set designer. Using the standard tropes of American sitcoms like Friends or Frasier—canned laughter, lightweight screen plays, and conventional characters—Baga reflects on the ways gender, sexuality, and social norms are portrayed in popular TV shows.

In There’s No “I” in Trisha, the artist uses the TV format to develop a narrative with an extremely ironic take on scenes filmed in a do-it-yourself way (in fact, Baga started this video—their first—when they were a nineteen-year-old art student).

Extract adapted from the exhibition catalogue: Lucia Aspesi and Fiammetta Griccioli, eds., Trisha Baga: the eye, the eye and the ear (Milan: Skira Editore S.p.A, 2020), 10 (repr.), 24, 25 (repr.).