‘After enlightenment, iron serviettes and carry the baby’: How controversial artist Kirsha Kaechele is including men in her Ladies Lounge
After winning the right to legally discriminate against men, a controversial artist has a new challenge for Gold Coast blokes – but it involves bronze babies, tuxedos and a very specific set of domestic skills. READ THE INTERVIEW
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A Tasmania-based artist who made international headlines after winning a court bid to bar men from her Ladies Lounge has a new home on the Gold Coast, but this time men can enter if they pass “a series of tests”.
Kirsha Kaechele’s performance art installation is now open at HOTA for this year’s Bleach* Festival, featuring 11 days of art, music and cultural celebration across the city.
The original Ladies Lounge at Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) was an exclusive women-only sanctuary, reversing the roles of traditional men’s clubs. It sparked an anti-discrimination case when NSW man Jason Lau was denied entry in 2023. While Lau initially won at Tasmania’s appeals tribunal, the Supreme Court quashed the decision last September, in a victory for Kaechele and her all-female legal team.
Acting judge Shane Marshall found the lounge was designed to promote equal opportunity for women generally, and could lawfully exclude men.
“The Supreme Court ruled that it is discrimination. It absolutely is discrimination, and I am intentionally discriminating,” Kaechele told this masthead.
“And I think that is a healthy and important experience for any given historical context – it’s not meant to be hurtful in any way. I hope they (men) will join me in embracing the discriminatory experience.”
At Bleach* Kaechele has decided to admit men – but only on the condition they undergo butler training.
“It’s a little different than the Ladies Lounge at Mona, because I responded to the criticism of men,” she said.
“I listened to them, and I understood that they were upset and they felt excluded. So I’ve adjusted to the artwork to create an opportunity for men to enter as butlers.”
She said “aspiring men” can apply for the special training. Successful candidates get dressed in tuxedos and learn essential skills.
“They’ll practice ironing,” she said. The iron is a solid bronze sculpture “designed by women and made for men.”
“Their hand doesn’t quite fit in the handle, but if they focus then it does work. They iron the serviettes very carefully while holding a baby – also a bronze sculpture. If they master the skill the can place the serviette over their left arm and practice their posture and poise and a special walk.”
Masters graduate to massage duties.
“They can come in and pour champagne for the ladies and wait on them.”
Kaechele justifies the role reversal: “In general, over the centuries, women have carried the brunt of domestic chores, and it’s really nice to even the playing field a little and make sure that everyone’s included in these enriching experiences. I wanted to make them available to men and really give them the opportunity to master them.”
She said the Gold Coast was not usually thought of as an epicentre for contemporary art, making it an “unlikely context”.
“It’s problematic from an art standpoint or from a progressive feminist standpoint that makes it juicy, that makes it exciting.
“And there’s this sincere, new, exciting, emerging art scene that I want to be a part of.
“It’s more exciting than boring old Melbourne and Sydney that have been epicentres of art. And Tasmania has been that epicentre for far too long, it’s time to mix it up.”
The city, she said, was actually the perfect backdrop for her art.
“I am drawn to the abundance of potential butlers on the beach,” she said.
“I’m drawn to the masculinity and the traditional gender roles – and the Gold Coast is macho”.
The installation includes ironing boards that double as massage tables and a phallic wall – a natural counterpart to Mona’s famous vagina wall. A separate “Complaints Department” operated by collaborator Tora Lopez sits next door for those wanting to voice objections.
“It’s a perfect compliment,” she said.
Kaechele said long-time collaborator and friend Lopez developed the work independently because of a separate legal process she was going through herself.
“She was struggling with how to incorporate it into her art,” Kaechele said.
“And then I just thought, well, of course, we need a conflict – I need a place for all of the men.
“We might be able to avoid a lawsuit if they feel heard and fully expressed – they can bring any complaint.”
And Kaechele wants to avoid another lawsuit this time around, warning the Queensland’s legal landscape may be less favourable and “bleak for women”.
“If a man sues me here, it will be different,” she said.
“The way the law is written does not favour women having an exception to the anti-discrimination Act.
“I don’t think the work (as it was in Tasmania) would pass through here as the law it’s currently written.”
But she’s taken the court cases and the criticism in her stride.
“The whole process is the art.
“And the thing about life art is you never know where it’s going.
“So when a man walked in and sued me, I didn’t anticipate that – I didn’t see it coming.
“But I was delighted because I thought, wow, this is a really exciting angle for the art – a new mode of expression.
“Not saying I would want to do it again – gentlemen, it would be really nice if you could lay off, just let us have a good time.”
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Originally published as ‘After enlightenment, iron serviettes and carry the baby’: How controversial artist Kirsha Kaechele is including men in her Ladies Lounge
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