How to Undress in Front of Your Husband
Video/Film – 2016
4K Video, 11.26 min, Black & White, Sound
The video performance How to Undress in Front of Your Husband (2016) is a remake of a Hollywood short film from 1937 by Dwain Esper, in which the supposed “dos” and “don’ts” of a woman undressing in front of her husband are demonstrated.
Nadja Verena Marcin takes on the roles of Miss Elane Barrie Barrymore, who, with a sultry glance, undresses in an allegedly exemplary manner, and Trixie Friganza, who clumsily, awkwardly, and stumblingly sheds her clothes.
The performance is narrated by the all-knowing male voice from the 1937 original, which extols the supposed virtues of one woman and criticizes the inadequacies of the other with sayings like, “It’s not what you obviously reveal, but what you artfully conceal that makes undressing an intriguing art,” and statements like “She not only knows how to get a husband but how to keep him.”
Marcin embodies both female characters in the video, caricaturing the disturbing sexism of the “educational” message. In the context of today’s society, she highlights its absurdity and the necessity of confronting the culture of previous generations as a means of coming to terms with it.
EXHIBITIONS
S: Solo Exhibition | G: Group Exhibition | Sc: Screening
Bruch|Stücke II, Art Claims Impulse, Berlin, 2025 (G)
eco-Logix, flat1, Vienna, 2022 (G)
Down to Earth, Avtonomi Akadimia / Berliner Festspiele at Gropius Bau, Berlin, 2020 (G)
OPHELIA, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Saarbrücken, 2019/2020 (S)
OPHELIA, SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen, 2019 (S)
Performance is Alive, Satellite Art Show, New York, 2019 (G)
Object Action: The “F” Word in a Post-Truth Era, State, San Francisco, 2018 (G)
Women Cinemakers Biennale, Berlin, 2018 (Sc)
Whitney Houston Biennial: Greatest Love of All, La MaMa Galeria, New York, 2017 (G)
Small Works, Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, 2017 (G)
Contemporary Art Show, Denver, 2017 (G)
YES: Rachelle Beaudoin / Nadja Verena Marcin, Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, 2017 (Sc)
Cinema Pirata – How to Undress in Front of Your Husband, SOHO20 Gallery, Brooklyn, 2016 (S)
LECTURES
Masterclass – Nadja Verena Marcin, masterclass and Q&A, Festival Internacional Denis Stoklos de Solo Performance, Irati, 2022
LECTURES
Masterclass – Performance, fotografia e cinema: O processo criativo de Nadja Marcin, masterclass and Q&A, Cabíria Festival & Prêmio de Roteiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2020
PRESS
Priscilla Frank, “Feminist Artist’s ‘How To Undress In Front Of Your Husband’ Skewers Retro Mansplaining,” Huffpost, New York, March 4, 2017.
Rachel Bishop and Sarah Francis, “Incredibly sexist 1930s reconstructions instruct women how to ‘UNDRESS PROPERLY’ for their husbands,” London Mirror, London, April 6, 2017.
Jillian Steinhauer, “The Greatest Biennial of All”, Hyperallergic, New York, 2017.
Alana Martinez, “A Whitney Houston-Inspired Art Show Puts Women Center Stage”, Observer, New York, 2017.
Sarah Cascone, “The All-Woman ‘Whitney Houston Biennial’ Is Back and Its No Joke”, Artnet News, New York, 2017.
Tiffany Jow, “Who runs the world? The second Whitney, Houston Biennial offers an all-female spectacle”, Wallpaper, New York, 2017.
Clementine de Pressigny, “the whitney houston biennial is real,” i-D, New York, 2017.
Beka Venezia, “How The Whitney Houston Biennale Helped to Push Feminist Art forward”, Village Voice, New York, 2017.
Rachel Bishop, Sarah Francis, James Rodger, “These unbelievably sexist 1930s reconstructions show women how to ‘UNDRESS PROPERLY’ for their husbands”, Birmingham Mail, Birmingham, 2017.
PRESS
Rachel Bishop, “Incredibly sexist 1930s reconstructions instruct women how to ‘UNDRESS PROPERLY’ for their husbands”, World News Live / MSN, Washington, 2017.
„How to Undress in Front of Your Husband“, Gia on the Move, Blog, 2017.
Andrew Nunes, “A Sexist 1960s Film Remake Rewrites Cinema History,” VICE, September 23, 2016.
CATALOGS
Kathy Battista, New York New Wave: The Legacy of Feminist Art in Emerging Practice, New York: I.B. Tauris, 2019. 77–79.
Uwe Rüth, Kimberly Rhodes, Susan Silas, Liam Gillick, and Kathy Battista, Nadja Verena Marcin – Ophelia, Dresden: Sandstein, 2019.
CREDITS
Cinematography: Guillermo Cameo; Editor: Richard Swanson; Production Assistant: Kimberly; Concept, Art Director & Video-Performance: Nadja Verena Marcin
SPONSORS
The project is made possible by Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.