Filming is strictly forbidden inside New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, but that didn’t deter artist Fin (aka Rebecca Fin Simonetti).
She took a clandestine approach for Daughters, shot discreetly via cell phone. It features a site-specific performance in collaboration with FlucT (Monica Mirabile & Sigrid Lauren), and Eartheater (Alexandra Drewchin), woven together with found footage and advertisements.
‘As a location, [The Met is] rich territory,’ Fin told Dazed. ‘It is filled with sculptures and images that are saturated with meaning and power.’
The performers play with their surroundings, using their femininity to shake up this patriarchal institution. Towards the end, the film makes a nod to the Koch family – major underwriters for the Met – hinting at the power structures that affect our culture and society, past and present.
Museum-goers play cameos in the video, including a young girl who poses for a picture with the performers.
