Past Film/Video | Classics

An Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra Farmhouse/Whorehouse

Presented by the Wexner Center for the Arts and The Ohio State University Department of Art Living Culture Initiative

Lili in headdress

"An illuminating theatrical portrait of the mind of an artist at work."—New York Times on Bocanegra's Bodycast

Versatile film and TV actress Lili Taylor (I Shot Andy Warhol, Six Feet Under) stars in Farmhouse/Whorehouse, the third in a series of playful, hybrid performance works by visual artist Suzanne Bocanegra. Part artist lecture, part memoir, and part cultural essay, Farmhouse/Whorehouse looks into the lives of Bocanegra’s grandparents on their small farm in La Grange, Texas, just across the road from the infamous Chicken Ranch—better known as “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” (perhaps the only place to be immortalized by a ZZ Top song, a hit Broadway production, and a film starring Dolly Parton). Through text, song, film, and video, this engaging work will take you on a rambling journey that considers back-to-the-land hippie communes in the 1960s, the contemporary homesteading movement, the invention of the pastoral genre, and the role of the prostitute in art with abundant wit and insight.

Taylor joins us to introduce an evening of her films on October 2. More details here.

Support for this presentation of Farmhouse/Whorehouse is provided by The Ohio State University’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Lili in headdress

Lili Taylor in Farmhouse/Whorehouse, photo © Peter Serling. 

black and white photo of a woman on farmland

Grandma, Farmhouse/Whorehouse, photo courtesy of the artist. 

black and white photo of an old man feeding kittens

Grandpa and cats, Farmhouse/Whorehouse, photo courtesy of the artist. 

black and white photo of woman standing in field

Wife of Texas tenant farmer (1937), Farmhouse/Whorehouse. Photo: Dorothea Lange, courtesy of the artist and The Library of Congress. 

old photo of two children

Cotton pickers on a farm near Houston (1913), Farmhouse/Whorehouse. Photo: Lewis Hine, courtesy of the artist and The Library of Congress. 

EVENT SUPPORT

Ohio State’s College of Arts and Sciences

 

MAJOR SEASON SUPPORT FOR PERFORMING ARTS

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

 

ACCOMMODATIONS

The Blackwell Inn

 

GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT FOR THE WEXNER CENTER

Greater Columbus Arts Council

Ohio Arts Council

The Columbus Foundation

Nationwide Foundation

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Past Film/Video

An Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra Farmhouse/Whorehouse