Online Event: Sleep in Feminist Performance Art

Sleep is often seen as a deeply personal, private act, but in the world of performance art, it has become a powerful medium for quiet resistance by feminist artists.

From a deserted beach to the lobby of a bank and even a family jail cell, women and nonbinary artists have chosen to sleep in unexpected places, inviting audiences to identify, interrogate and envision a political value for sleep.

This talk explores how feminist performance artists — including Laurie Anderson, Regina José Galindo, Sakiko Yamaoka, and Navild Acosta and Fannie Sosa — have used sleep not just as a subject, but as a method. Through their work, sleep becomes a lens for thinking about time, care, endurance and the spaces our bodies inhabit. In this talk, Danielle Drees will explore how these performances expand our understanding of sleep — transforming it from a passive necessity into a site of expression, imagination and artistic inquiry.

This event is part of the public programme for the exhibition The Sleepers at The Women's Art Collection.

About the speaker

Danielle Drees is affiliated faculty in literature at Emerson College and a visiting lecturer on theatre at Harvard University. She received her PhD with distinction in Theatre and Performance from Columbia University and holds degrees from the University of Cambridge and Harvard College. Danielle's research examines how feminist, queer, disabled, and working-class artists use theatre and other aesthetic forms as sites of political experimentation. She is particularly fascinated by how feminist and and queer performers and playwrights have used sleep in their art to work through exhaustion and burnout and to imagine more sustainable forms of political action: her book Sleep with Spectators: Feminist Performance and Practice will be out from the University of Minnesota Press in September 2026. Danielle's next book project will be a biography of the 17th-century genderfluid performer Moll Cutpurse. Danielle lives in Brookline, Massachusetts. In her spare time, she talks about art with learners of all ages at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

🎥 How to Join the Webinar (via Zoom)

This is a live online webinar hosted through Zoom. Please follow the instructions below to join:

✅ After You Register:

• You’ll receive a confirmation email from Eventbrite with details about the event.
• The Zoom webinar link will be available on the Eventbrite Online Event Page (accessible via your confirmation email or Eventbrite account under "Tickets").

🔔 Reminder Emails:

• Reminder emails will be sent 1 day and 1 hour before the webinar starts.
• Each email will include a direct link to join the webinar.

📅 On the Day of the Webinar:

1. Click the Zoom link from your email or Eventbrite Online Event Page.
2. If you haven’t used Zoom before, download it at zoom.us beforehand.
3. Join the webinar a few minutes early to make sure everything is working smoothly.

🎤 Webinar Format:

• As an attendee, your camera and microphone will be off by default.
• You’ll be able to submit questions through the Q&A feature or chat, depending on the host’s settings.
• There will be a live Q&A session at the end.

💡 Tips for a Smooth Experience:

• Use a reliable internet connection.
• Join from a quiet environment.
• Keep your Zoom app updated for the best performance.

If you have trouble accessing the webinar, please contact us via Eventbrite or email us at womensart@murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk

Image: Laura Footes (b. 1988)A Healing Dream, 2024 Oil on canvas, 120 x 200 cm. Image courtesy of Carl Freedman Gallery & the artist. Photography by Ollie Harrop.