Our time is fascinating in many respects with one of the most visible events being this rapid change of genders’ positioning in the last years. The classical stereotyped and fixed social and aesthetic roles attributed to women, on the one hand and to men on the other, are progressively being transformed towards a more fluid approach, each individual of each gender gaining the possibility of being, according to his or her own personal feelings, female, male, neither or both. Through these changes and other major social events such as #metoo, the position of women artists, and more generally of artists belonging to groups currently considered as minorities, have gained a rapidly increasing visibility, and the themes of art are also rapidly evolving. But as some of the ancient stereotypes are removed, new ones tend to take their place, as is often the case in rapidly changing social norms.

In art, gender fluidity gets prominent interest both in the artists themselves and in the art these artists are producing. A number of examples will be provided, and whenever possible and adequate, these examples will be taken from the Venice exhibitions, whether the Biennial or the ECC. The issue of the representations of male and female in 2022 will be addressed, specifically bodily representations, nudes, and in the performing arts — all of those issues based and illustrated on art works that will be shown in projected images during the talk. The risk of going for one type of stereotypes to another will be underlined, and the paths towards free choices in identity, whether in art and in life, will be discussed and promoted.