Professional
- zh
Valerie Reding
freie Künstler*in (Performance & Fotografie), Drag Performer (VulVenim) sowie künstlerische Leitung der queeren, sex-positiven Party WET DREAMZ
Professional activities:
- Artwork / visuals
- Cultural organisation / management
- Performance
- Photography act / portrait
- Program management
Pronouns:
alle Pronomen / they
Following their training in classical ballet, jazz and modern dance in Luxembourg, Valerie Reding studied Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of technology in Zurich (ETHZ) and Media Arts at the Universities of the Arts in Zurich (ZHdK) and Vienna (Angewandte). Besides their academic studies, they worked internationally as a makeup artist in fashion and film, and explored the art of drag in San Francisco’s and Zurich’s nightlife.
Today, they combine all these experiences in their eclectic transdisciplinary artistic practice, oscillating between movement, performance, photography, video, text, installation, costume design, event curation and drag. Their works can take the shape of choreographed stage pieces, site specific performances, multimedia installations including photography, sound and videos, community events and other transdisciplinary interventions. They work independently as well as collaboratively in varying contexts ranging from underground and nightlife spaces to theaters, galleries and other cultural institutions, defying any kind of hierarchical categorization of the art world.
Intrigued by the complexities and intersections of the body, human psychology, interpersonal relationships, societal power dynamics and pop culture, Valerie Reding explores the potential of vulnerability, auto-fiction, togetherness, transformation, rituals and "camp" to work on questions around subjectivity and relationality.
As their drag alter-ego VulVenim – a seductive, poisonous, gender-questioning and gore-loving shapeshifter – they create empowering and thought-provoking live queerlesque performances.
They are also the creative director, producer and host of the queer and sex-positive party WET DREAMZ, a nightlife event with various artistic interventions that passionately celebrates all bodies, identities and sexualities. Together with their awareness team, they aim to create a safer space where no racism, no homophobia, no transphobia, no sexism, no ableism nor any other kind of systemic oppression or bigoted hatred are being tolerated.