NinaJohnson

To young girls the bedroom is an unmediated space of self identity, escapism and experimentation. In fact, the bedroom plays such a significant role to girls that the concept of “bedroom culture” emerged in the field of youth culture studies in the 1970s. The feminist sociologists Angela McRobbie and Jenny Garber (1976) argued that female youth, referred to as teeny-boppers, develop a “culture of the bedroom” comprised of “experimenting with make-up, listening to records, reading the mags, sizing up the boyfriends, chatting [and] jiving.”

The bedroom is a place were we can find respite and are free from demands of life. Bedrooms are usually the most personalized rooms, one finds comfort in framed family photos and carefully selected duvets. They look at their shelf of books they haven’t read and feel whole.  It’s the place were relaxation and dreams happen. And who knows this better than the teeny-bopper?

Katie Stout‘s Bedroom Curio both pokes fun and finds inspiration in the teeny-bopper character, from her delusions to the products she uses. The furniture objects created for this installation are influenced by the disorienting contradictions and incessant exploration of adolescence ; playful but serious, naive but aware. Nothing matters. Everything matters.  For example: a hamper made out of socks. The room exists in a place between impulse and control with an awareness of the absurd ways in that mass culture tries to dictate female coming of age.

Stout’s booth # is C06.