Reimagining Femininity Beyond the Body
Opening: March 13, 2026
Location: Lichtraum Eins by Paul Siblik, Vienna
Curators: Sonia Siblik & Moka Sheung Yan Wong
Artists in Residence:
Amanda Du, Moka Sheung Yan Wong, Sonia Siblik
The exhibition “Gently Tempestuous: Reimagining Femininity Beyond the Body” explores femininity not as a fixed identity, but as a dynamic and expansive force that moves through bodies, objects, atmospheres and perceptions.
The term femininity is often associated exclusively with the female sex and understood as something typical of women—soft, reserved, or even weak. But femininity is far more complex. It is not limited to a biological body or a social role; rather, it is an inherent principle that can be found in nature, in time, in objects, in movement, and in human experience itself.
Purely masculine or purely feminine states do not truly exist. Instead, we encounter a constant interplay of forces—a vibrant balance between calm and storm, between receiving and acting, between vulnerability and strength.
Against this backdrop, the exhibition Gently Tempestuous examines femininity both as a cultural construct and as an aesthetic condition. For centuries, femininity has been shaped, disciplined, and aestheticized by systems of representation that closely linked it to the female body and to expectations of grace, beauty, and restraint. These historical structures continue to influence how femininity is perceived today.
However, instead of remaining within the confines of identity politics, this exhibition proposes a broader perspective:
What makes an object, a gesture, or an atmosphere appear "feminine" today?
Can femininity exist beyond the human body?
Through painting, drawing, photography, installations, scent works, performance, and transmedia interventions, the invited artists explore femininity as something relational rather than an inherent characteristic. It can become visible in textures, surfaces, colors, gestures, spatial dynamics, or sensory experiences.
Conceptually structured through surface, undercurrent and rupture, the exhibition traces femininity from its historically controlled aestheticization to its destabilized and transformative potential.
By extending femininity beyond biological and social determinisms, Gently Tempestuous understands it as a generative field of power — one that can permeate bodies, objects, landscapes and also acts of resistance.
The exhibition invites visitors to question traditional definitions and reconsider how femininity shapes our perception, identity, and cultural imagination.