Forma

a work-in-progress screening by M Lissoni

Educastration, a work-in-progress screening at FormaHQ
M Lissoni
23 January 2025

Forma is delighted to be presenting a work-in-progress screening of M Lissoni’s new video essay Educastration. Educastration delves into the intersections of race, gender, and power through a critical visual investigation of body surveillance and medicalisation. Drawing from archival imagery of cosmetic advertising, medical texts, and media representations, this project collates visual and historical materials, questioning theopolitical mechanisms of control and othering.

The title Educastration pays homage to the Italian philosopher Mario Mieli (Towards a Gay Communism, 1977), whose work within the queer liberation movement in the 1970s sought to subvert normative structures and rethink the politics of desire and identity. This project seeks to extend that lineage by interrogating the educational and disciplinary functions of media and history in forming what we consider normative.

The video essay is an exploration of the ways in which science, religion, and capitalist imperatives merge to produce dominant forms of knowledge about bodies. It looks closely at how these systems—both scientific and theological—have been used as political strategies to shape and enforce norms of bodily hygiene, reproduction, and discipline, often through a lens that prioritises whiteness. The video interrogates how these visual codes have historically intersected with the production of gendered and racialised bodies, particularly through media that have reinforced ideals of domesticity, femininity, and purity, often symbolised by products like talcum powder and household cleaning products.

The screening will be accompanied by a short Q&A and a curated display of artists' books and texts that have informed the research, carefully selected by STIGMATA, an independent publishing and curatorial platform established by Lissoni dedicated to decolonial thought, gender politics, and resistance to cultural erasure. Through independent publishing, STIGMATA fosters dialogue around marginalised histories, amplifying voices from the periphery of institutionalised artistic production. The curated texts will offer an additional perspective through printed materials, providing another layer of insight into the complex, interwoven histories that inform the ongoing project.

“The clinic, the asylum, the prison, the university – all seem to be screen-allegories that foreclose a reading of the broader narratives of imperialism.”

– Gayatri Spivak, Can the Subaltern Speak?

The soundtrack to Educastration was composed by Engin Eskici.


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Educastration

Details
19:00 - 21:00
Thursday 23 January 2025

FormaHQ, Peveril Garden Studios
140 Great Dover Street
SE1 4GW, London

Free entry, RSVP


The first 20 people to RSVP will receive in the post a limited edition physical invite hand made by M.

Educastration, a work-in-progress screening at FormaHQ
M Lissoni
23 January 2025

Forma is delighted to be presenting a work-in-progress screening of M Lissoni’s new video essay Educastration. Educastration delves into the intersections of race, gender, and power through a critical visual investigation of body surveillance and medicalisation. Drawing from archival imagery of cosmetic advertising, medical texts, and media representations, this project collates visual and historical materials, questioning theopolitical mechanisms of control and othering.

The title Educastration pays homage to the Italian philosopher Mario Mieli (Towards a Gay Communism, 1977), whose work within the queer liberation movement in the 1970s sought to subvert normative structures and rethink the politics of desire and identity. This project seeks to extend that lineage by interrogating the educational and disciplinary functions of media and history in forming what we consider normative.

The video essay is an exploration of the ways in which science, religion, and capitalist imperatives merge to produce dominant forms of knowledge about bodies. It looks closely at how these systems—both scientific and theological—have been used as political strategies to shape and enforce norms of bodily hygiene, reproduction, and discipline, often through a lens that prioritises whiteness. The video interrogates how these visual codes have historically intersected with the production of gendered and racialised bodies, particularly through media that have reinforced ideals of domesticity, femininity, and purity, often symbolised by products like talcum powder and household cleaning products.

The screening will be accompanied by a short Q&A and a curated display of artists' books and texts that have informed the research, carefully selected by STIGMATA, an independent publishing and curatorial platform established by Lissoni dedicated to decolonial thought, gender politics, and resistance to cultural erasure. Through independent publishing, STIGMATA fosters dialogue around marginalised histories, amplifying voices from the periphery of institutionalised artistic production. The curated texts will offer an additional perspective through printed materials, providing another layer of insight into the complex, interwoven histories that inform the ongoing project.

“The clinic, the asylum, the prison, the university – all seem to be screen-allegories that foreclose a reading of the broader narratives of imperialism.”

– Gayatri Spivak, Can the Subaltern Speak?

The soundtrack to Educastration was composed by Engin Eskici.

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M Lissoni, ‘Educastration’ 2025. A screening and installation, FormaHQ. London. Photo: Forma

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M Lissoni, ‘Educastration’ 2025. A screening and installation, FormaHQ. London. Photo: Forma

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M Lissoni, ‘Educastration’ 2025. A screening and installation, FormaHQ. London. Photo: Forma

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M Lissoni, ‘Educastration’ 2025. A screening and installation, FormaHQ. London. Photo: Forma

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M Lissoni, ‘Educastration’ 2025. A screening and installation, FormaHQ. London. Photo: Forma

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M Lissoni, ‘Educastration’ 2025. A screening and installation, FormaHQ. London. Photo: Forma

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M Lissoni, ‘Educastration’ 2025. A screening and installation, FormaHQ. London. Photo: Forma

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M Lissoni, ‘Educastration’ 2025. A screening and installation, FormaHQ. London. Photo: Forma

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M Lissoni, ‘Educastration’ 2025. A screening and installation, FormaHQ. London. Photo: Forma

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M Lissoni, ‘Educastration’ 2025. A screening and installation, FormaHQ. London. Photo: Forma

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Biography

M Lissoni is a transdisciplinary artist based between London and the South of Italy. Their research-based practice focuses on the sacred as a tool to transcend personal authorship and embody collective ritual. Their work ponders issues of memory, cultural erasure, gender and mourning as a way of documenting the in-between. Drawing on fragments of objects, visual cultures, and traces of oral histories, they engage in decolonial forms of archiving the body, transforming these materials into installations, sculptures, prints, text, and books.

M is the founder of STIGMATA, an independent publishing and curatorial platform, operating at the intersection of print, moving-image and public programming. STIGMATA approaches independent publishing as both a collaborative practice of resistance and a medium for transcultural dialogue.

Lissoni’s work has been showcased internationally across institutions such as Lethaby Gallery, London, 2024; Lismore Castle Arts, Ireland, 2023; Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan, Italy, 2022; the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 2022; Barbican Centre, London, 2020, as well as independent, artist-run spaces such as Reference Point, London, 2023; ENTER ENTER, Amsterdam, 2023; and Biblioteka, London, 2022. Their publishing work is held in the collections of Central Saint Martins Special Collections; The Contemporary Art Library at Progetto Gallery, Lecce (IT); The Wellcome Collection and The Women’s Art Library at Goldsmiths, University of London.

mlissoni.com


Engin Eskici is a south London based multifaceted musician working as a percussionist, composer and electronic musician. As a close artistic collaborator of M Lissoni, they have worked on various projects in recent years, developing sound across moving-image and publishing. His composition for ‘Educastration’ draws influence from his Turkish roots, including high quality live ensemble recordings and electronic percussive/drum machines.

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M Lissoni, 'Educastration', 2024. Film still. Courtesy the artist.

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M Lissoni, 'Educastration', 2024. Film still. Courtesy the artist.

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M Lissoni, 'Educastration', 2024. Film still. Courtesy the artist.

https://forma.org.uk/assets/_large/EDUCASTRATION4_CROPPED.jpg

M Lissoni, 'Educastration', 2024. Film still. Courtesy the artist.

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Details
19:00 - 21:00
Thursday 23 January 2025

FormaHQ, Peveril Garden Studios
140 Great Dover Street
SE1 4GW, London

Free entry, RSVP


The first 20 people to RSVP will receive in the post a limited edition physical invite hand made by M.