PRINCESS (ex-MEN)

Princess is a performance art duo, a collaboration between Alexis Gideon and Michael O’Neill that uses music as the backbone of a multi-disciplinary practice. Princess explores queerness and the concept of masculinity. Simultaneously gay, straight, queer, masculine and feminine, Princess embodies the fluidity and coherence between the seemingly contradictory. Princess was formed in 2004 in the Chicago DIY Performance space Texas Ballroom. The duo released a self-titled LP and performed until 2006 when they went on to pursue other paths, reuniting for this project in 2017.

​Alexis Gideon has performed and exhibited throughout the world, including at Moderna Museet Stockholm, New Museum of Contemporary Art, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Málaga, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Vdrome, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Wexner Center for the Arts, and Time Zones Festival Italia. He has toured internationally and opened for Dan Deacon and tUnE- yArDs.

Michael O’Neill has collaborated with JD Samson of Le Tigre and, with her, formed the acclaimed art/performance band MEN. MEN toured extensively around the world including festival appearances at Coachella (USA) and Sidney Mardi Gras (AUS), at museums such as SF MoMA (USA) and Museo Rufino Tamayo (MX), and with Gossip, Peaches and CSS. Michael has also performed in a long list of queer and indie-pop bands including The Ladybug Transistor, Air Waves, The Ballet and The Aislers Set.

Out There (2019; 4K video, live performance; 55:20min) is a concept video album and live performance piece by the band Princess. It explores the role men ought to be playing during the current cultural reckoning of misogyny. The video’s science fiction narrative explores the power of the Divine Feminine through collaborations with JD Samson, visual artist Jennifer Meridian, and the band TEEN. Gideon and O’Neill perform the music alongside the projection of the video.

The world premiere of Princess’s Out There will be this spring at the Andy Warhol Museum followed by a tour at other institutions including the NYC premiere at New Museum, MCA San Diego, MOCA Cleveland, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Wexner Center for the Arts, The Bass, DePaul Art Museum, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh, five 21c Museum locations and many other institutions.