Vaginal Davis Wins 2009 Ethyl Eichelberger Award

Performance Space 122 has announced that drag performer Vaginal Davis is the winner of the 2009 Ethyl Eichelberger Award.

This annual commissioning award is given “to an artist who exemplifies Ethyl’s larger-than-life style and generosity of spirit; who embodies Ethyl’s multi-talented artistic virtuosity, bridging worlds and inspiring those around them.” Davis will receive a show in the spring 2010 season at Performance Space 122 as well as a stipend for its creation.

The award has previously been presented to Jennifer Miller — whose Eichelberger commission Cracked Ice, or The Jewels of the Forbidden Skates is currently playing PS 122 — Taylor Mac, Julie Atlas Muz, and Justin Bond.

Davis, who is currently based in Berlin, is an originator of the homo-core punk movement and a gender-queer art-music icon. Her low-budget, often no-budget, performance, experimental film and video practice has critiqued exclusionary conceits from the outside.

For more information, visit www.ps122.org.