What Do You See as Feminine/Masculine Here? (The Gender Aspect of Artistic Communication)

The article explores the emotional and evocative possibilities of art mediation as a participatory practice as well as the role of the gender component in the communication of art. The authors refer to the experience of the VI Ural Industrial Biennale of Contemporary Art (Yekaterinburg, 2021), which actively used the current participatory format of communication with the audience. The object of analysis was the process of art mediation based on the methodology proposed by the authors. The authors designed a three-part communication scheme and applied it to the analysis of gender-colored art objects presented at the Biennale. This process of mediation has bilateral purpose, on the one hand, to promote aesthetic perception and semantic interpretation of what they see and, on the other hand, to contribute to the personal and group identification of the viewers, their rethinking of established social constructs and roles. The debatable nature of communication creates an opportunity for its participants to reflect on their own aesthetic, social and existential experience, its boundaries and limitations - gender stereotypes and attitudes.