MC Coble
MC Coble (born 1978) is an American artist based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Coble received their Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2001. They then went on to receive their Master of Fine Arts from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C, in 2004.
Also recorded as Mary Coble
MC Coble

Brooklyn Museum · YouTube: Global Feminisms: Mary Coble – View/save archived versions on archive.org · CC BY 4.0
- Name
- MC Coble
- Born
- 1978
- Birthplace
- North Carolina, United States
- Field
- Performance art, Queer art
- Training
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (University of North Carolina at Greensboro)
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- performance artist · installation artist · video artist · photographer · writer
- Fields
- performance art · installation art
- Movements
- contemporary art · feminist art
- Education
- University of North Carolina at Greensboro
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Documentary summary
MC Coble (born 1978) is an American artist based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Coble received their Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2001. They then went on to receive their Master of Fine Arts from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C, in 2004.
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wikidata · Q16728108 · wikipedia · MC Coble
In this article
Biography
Biography
They originally began their art career as a photographer but later turned their attention to performance art. Their most notable works are Note to Self (2005) and Blood Script (2008).
MC Coble studied at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are performance art and installation art. Places of work recorded in the authority are Washington, D.C. Employment is recorded with University of Gothenburg.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — MC Coble • Born — 1978 • Birthplace — North Carolina, United States • Field — Performance art, Queer art • Training — The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (University of North Carolina at Greensboro) • Works — Note to Self (2005) Blood Script (2008) Deferral (2013) • Website — https: mccoble.com/
Installations and performances
Installations and performances
Note to Self was a performance piece by MC Coble which was performed September 2, 2005 at the Connor Contemporary Art Gallery in Washington D.C. The performance consisted of MC Coble sitting on a chair with their back turned to the audience while being tattooed with the names of victims of LGBTQ related hate crimes. For the solo performance, Coble collected 436 names of gay, lesbian, bi, and transgender individuals that died due to hate crimes. These tattoos were done without ink so each name was visible in blood. After each tattoo, the blood was imprinted on a sheet of paper. The entire performance lasted 12 hours. That same year, during Performa's inaugural biennial in 2005, Coble performed Binding Routine, Daily Ritual at Artists Space in New York. For an hour, they wrapped and unwrapped their breasts with a thick strip of duct tape, as a pile of tangled tape accumulated at their feet and their skin grew raw. Deferral, performed and installed at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC in 2013, addressed FDA regulations banning men who have had sex with other men from donating blood since 1977. Coble collected slogans for blood donation campaigns and printed them on separation screens. Coble had blood drawn on site and then used it to paint the word deferral in Morse code on the screens. When asked in an interview with The Huffington Post about why they chose to do a performance on this topic, Coble responded that it is "...an interest in queer issues of social injustice threads throughout my work. The White House is across from The Corcoran as is the Red Cross-- and so everything just came together." Coble says of their performances,"It is not about hurting myself. It's the only way I can think to express these ideas that my audience will have a strong enough connection to." Blood Script was a performance piece by MC Coble which was performed in 2008 at the PULSE art fair in New York City. MC Coble had 75 hateful words tattooed onto their body without ink. These 75 words were taken from over 200 words used previously in other performances. These performances were titled MARKER and were performed in New York in 2006, in Washington D.C. in 2007, and Madrid in 2008. The words were tattooed in a decorative font and appeared on their body in blood. After being tattooed, each insult was captured by placing a sheet of paper over the blood, creating an imprint which was then displayed on the gallery wall.
Identity
Identity
MC Coble is recorded with the occupation installation artist. Recorded with the occupation photographer. Classed in the genre installation art. Classed in the genre performance art. Recorded with the occupation writer. Recorded as performance artist, installation artist, video artist, photographer and writer. Within the Encyclopedia. Connected to 2 other published records in the VALÉORINE Encyclopedia.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1978
MC Coble was born on 1 January 1978.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q16728108: MC Coble
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “MC Coble”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Reilly, Maura, and Linda Nochlin. Global Feminisms: New Directions in Contemporary Art. London: Merrell, 2007. .
- 2.Hengel, Louis van den. "Archives of Affect: Performance, Reenactment, and the Becoming of Memory." In László Munteán, Liedeke Plate, and Anneke Smelik (Eds) Materializing Memory in Art and Popular Culture (pp. 125-142). New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.
- 3.'Deferral': Performance piece at Corcoran takes on blood donation, gay rights.
- 4.Talwar, Savneet K. Mary Coble: Performance Art and Politics of an Archive. University of Maryland. 2010.
- 5.Samson, Judith. Provocative and powerful: The performances of MC Coble. Raffia. 4. December 2010.
- 6.Furtado, Teresa Veiga. "The Incorporation Of Violence By Women Video Artists". IJASOS- International E-journal of Advances in Social Sciences 2, no. 5 (August 2016): 388.
- 7.O'Sullivan, Michael. "'Note to Self': Painful Reminders Of Crimes". The Washington Post.
- 8.Performa Archive.
- 9.Frank, Priscilla (August 7, 2013). "Performance Artist Questions Controversial FDA Policy That Prevents Gay Men From Donating Blood". Huffington Post. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
- 10."Blood Donations from Men Who Have Sex with Other Men Questions and Answers", US Food and Drug Administration, August 19, 2013 (retrieved May 20, 2014)
- 11.Beckman, Rachel. "'Aversion': A Jolt of an Experience". Washington Post. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
- 12.Steorn, Patrik. "Curating Queer Heritage: Queer Knowledge and Museum Practice". Wiley Online Library. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, July 16, 2012.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 6
- Stonestreet, Tracy. "Toward Liveness: the Polytemporality of Performance Objects". VCU Scholars Compass, 2019.
- "Brooklyn Museum: MC Coble". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- Gestures of Defiance: Official Blog
- Hirshorn: A Conversation with Mary Coble
- Global Feminisms: Mary Coble
- Materializing Memory in Art and Popular Culture 2016
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority record
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Genre
1- Performance artTerminology
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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