"Dog with Tail for a Tit" plays with sexual tension at Zirkle House

There was an uncomfortable aura of solemn mystery in the room; it felt like walking into the aftermath of a crime scene and being compelled to figure out what happened. There were some clues.

In the room, black velvet underwear rested on an enormous matching pillow. Gold tassels on the corners of the pillow added a regal air to it. Next to the cushion, a biology textbook and blue examination booklet rested on a white stand. A long red rod with a severed human finger on the end was propped on the top of the stand.

This exhibit by senior Marin Abell and his art band, "Don’t Forget About the Dog with a Tail for a Tit," was the first exhibit at Zirkle House in more than two years. The art band was named after Abell’s dog, whose nipple became swollen after getting pregnant, making it look like a tail.

During the performance on Monday night, junior Monique Milleson laid on a pillow donning only velvet underwear with a matrix of numbers and letters covering her back. Abell held the red rod and poked Milleson on various areas of her back. Senior Walker Tufts listened closely as Milleson said random memories and thoughts and reported back to Abell what was said. Abell and Tufts wore matching suits, with a red velvet rope connecting the crotch of Abell’s pants to the seat of Tuft’s. "We’re supposed to represent the concept of conjoinism. We’re unidentical, conjoined twins working together on the subject," Abell said.

The band’s exhibit, which they call "Velvet Pillow Exploration #1," aroused sexual tension within the audience because of the half-nude girl and conjoined men. "Monique layed half nude on the pillow, making it more like an operation and creating sexual tension," Abell said. "We played with this sexual tension even more by connecting the velvet rope from the crotch of my pants to the ass of Walker’s."

Abell’s band plans on organizing more explorations, some of which include placing his own dog on the velvet pillow and walking around campus for all to see. He also plans to create 10,000 nipples out of clay and pass them out around campus.

Abell’s band is not the only exhibit at Zirkle House that challenges society’s tendency to use discretion when it comes to sexual matters. A pair of beige Calvin Klein underwear was tangled around the title sign next to the doorway of senior Hayley Osborne’s exhibit, "Understatements." Her exhibit featured photographs of refreshingly normal people in everyday scenarios wearing their underwear. Osborne captured these moments where underwear was in full view — moments that would otherwise be covered up immediately by one’s awareness of social propriety.

"We try to schedule shows with different mediums, concepts, and ideas," graduate advisor Sarah Boyts said. In keeping with this philosophy, junior Christi Farrell will hold the first interior design exhibit at Zirkle House Monday from 7 to 9 p.m.