Alexandra Hopf

Becoming Siren (September 1940 - May 1941)

Vexer Verlag, Berlin, 2020, (en)
104 pages, colour and bw images, softcover
21 x 27 cm
ISBN 978390711234

Becoming Siren links the cultural history centred around the sirens with the story of the legendary “Siren Suit”, an overall worn by women in England during World War II. In addition, dancers of the performance group The Sirens performed in these overalls during the Blitzkrieg. In bunkers and underground shelters they developed a choreography that transformed the state of emergency into a rite of passage. Within the narrative this opens up space for a utopian social moment dissolving gender polarities and class differences.

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