Public Property
Debut-Taunt Burlesque introduces provocative art community

THE DEBUT-TAUNT BURLESQUE
With Madame Klawdya Rothschild, the Property Beauties, Bella Morte, Somna M. Bulist
Friday, March 28
9 p.m., $15
Rex Theatre, South Side
412.381.6811

By Mike Shanley

Klawdya Rothschild points to her tattoo as she explains the Property Project, an artist community focusing on provocative art, which she founded. The bar code etched on the back of her neck symbolizes the group's concept. "Our flesh is the only thing we really own, and it's a medium as good as any other," she says.

A professional dominatrix, Rothschild also works as an artist in a medium that combines performance and fetish art. In the past she has created sculptures of a rose or furniture by using two human bodies and rope bondage. She launched the Property Project Web site, www.propertyproject.org, last April, and it now features works by more than 15 artists, many of them based in other cities.

After performing at a fetish ball last year, Rothschild is staging the Debut-Taunt Burlesque this weekend, which is billed as "a fetish art and gothic spectacular." Experimental harpist Somna M. Bulist and Virginia gothic pop-punks Bella Morte provide the music. Crafts by Kelly Andrew Orbanic will be displayed in the lobby of the Rex. But the evening is bookended by two performances by Rothschild and three of the Property Beauties who appear on the Web site. She plans to take the performance to stages in 11 different cities by the end of the year, with a book and interactive CD of art and performances to be released next year.

Rothschild stresses that sexually stimulating viewers is not the primary goal of her work. "What makes fetish art so interesting is that fetish and sex are grouped into this big mold, like it's pornography," she says. "It's not, it's anything but. It's discipline. So what I like to do is portray fetish as something nonsexual. It's still stimulating [because] you're still seeing flesh. So it's still going to have that connection to sensuality with you. But when it comes down to it, I don't use nudity in any non-tasteful way."

Holly Velvet, one of the models who perform with Rothschild, adds that she wouldn't be involved in the project if nudity were a significant part of it. "I feel that it's really important, especially for me, to maintain a certain amount of dignity and class in any type of art form," she says.

Velvet is a key player in both of the evening's performances, along with Lilith Moon and Clare. In "Black Light Burlesque Dancers," they shed debutante dresses to reveal flashier outfits and UV reactive paint on their bodies. Rothschild paints Velvet's body while flipping her on a simulated trapeze.

"Rivet-Head Wet Dream," the evening's final event, features a landscape with sheet metal bolted to the floor. This time, Clare and Lilith Moon are tied to platforms raised and angled at 60-degrees, dressed in steel plate armor designed by Orbanic. Velvet, again suspended from the ceiling, holds an angle grinder that draws sparks when it touches the other women and the scenery. She begins grinding the scenery, moves on to her co-stars, then onto herself.

Some practice has been required but Rothschild isn't worried about anyone getting injured. "The girls' plate armor is really thick," she explains. "It'd take some real attentiveness to try to create shards coming off. The only thing that'll be flying everywhere will be the sparks and maybe some dust."

Rothschild started envisioning these performances after working as a cage dancer at a fetish club that was part of Washington, D.C.'s Bound International network. While the BDSM community there was strong, it offered little for people interested in performance art. She found more opportunities when she moved to Pittsburgh last year. "Pittsburgh seemed to be more of a self-starting kind of cultural city where I could make something happen," she says.

The Property Project has already generated a good deal of interest for artists, which excites Rothschild. Although erotic art has been seen in town in galleries like Blue Ruin, the Property Project opts for a different angle. "My [approach] is like, 'Hey, you see that girl? What could her flesh be molded into?'" she says. "As opposed to, 'What could we mold into to look like her flesh?'"