Topical Cream is a New York-based arts organization supporting the work of women and gender non-conforming contemporary artists.
Topical Cream x MoMA PS1
Published February 1st, 2018

Anti Bodies took place at MoMA PS1 on January 28th, 2018, the first edition of the museum’s 2018 VW Sunday Sessions series. Organized with Topical Cream, the program brought together performances, installations, video projections, and readings featuring recurring themes of self-preservation, soft labor, surveillance anxieties, community caretaking, virtual surrogacy, and emotional narrativity. Participating artists included Analisa Teachworth with Jonas Wendelin, Deli Girls, Julia Scher, Maya Martinez with Jasmine Cindy, Michelle Young Lee, Natasha Stagg, Redeem Pettaway, Rindon Johnson, Sara Hornbacher, Sarah Zapata, Sophia Le Fraga with Jameson Fitzpatrick, and Zsela.

Sarah Hornbacher, “Precession of the Simulacra,” 1988–1992. Photograph by Walter Wlodarczyk.
Sarah Zapata reading foot erotica in a textile installation of her own design. Photograph by Walter Wlodarczyk.
Projections of feet by Sarah Zapata. The artist’s foot-themed writing is available on cassette. Photograph by Walter Wlodarczyk.
Live reading of a play by Maya Martinez performed with Jasmine Cindy, who also designed the costumes. Photograph by Walter Wlodarczyk.
Jasmine Cindy in a lamb costume of her own design. Photograph by Walter Wlodarczyk.
Sophia Le Fraga in “TH3 B4LD 50PR4N0; or, English Made Easy, performed with Jameson Fitzpatrick,” 2018. Photograph by Walter Wlodarczyk.
Natasha Stagg reading “Am Consulting,” forthcoming in “Intersubjectivity Vol 2” from Sternberg Press. Photograph by Walter Wlodarczyk.
Michelle Young Lee in “The Care Room,” 2018, a performance highlighting the nature of unpaid feminized labor. Courtesy of the artist.
Michelle Young Lee in “The Care Room,” 2018, a performance highlighting the nature of unpaid feminized labor. Courtesy of the artist.
Rindon Johnson, “We Have a Void,” 2018. Courtesy MoMA PS1. Photograph by Derek Schultz.
Rindon Johnson, “We Have a Void,” 2018. Courtesy MoMA PS1. Photograph by Derek Schultz.
Analisa Teachworth and Jonas Wendelin, “OVA,” 2018, performed with Cara Diaz Certosimo and Kellian Delice. Courtesy the artist. Photograph by Walter Wlodarcyk.
Jacksonville-based Redeem Pettaway introducing “Transatlantic Adam,” 2017: “Black existence is restraint.” Photograph by Walter Wlodarczyk.
From Redeem Pettaway, “Transatlantic Adam,” 2017: “dial 1 for emoticon/dial 2 to release/dial 3 for eye secretion/cautious carry.” Courtesy MoMA PS1. Photograph by Derek Schultz.
Julia Scher’s “Consent Clinic” interrogates surveillance, control, and architectures of permission. Photograph by Walter Wlodarczyk.
Julia Scher: “These images of the body, taken and absorbed, we’re so used to it, but what do we consent?” Photograph by Walter Wlodarczyk.
Danny Orlowski of Deli Girls, whose music summons ambient societal violence to exorcise it. Photograph by Walter Wlodarczyk.
Tommi Kelly of Deli Girls playing the band’s jagged synths and blown-out drum machines. Photograph by Walter Wlodarczyk.
Soul singer Zsela, accompanied by Carr Chadwick and wearing a couture bra by Candice Saint Williams. Photograph by Walter Wlodarczyk.