Last year, in the name of cultural criticism, Laura Milkins (Post-Baccalaureate Certificate '96, Diploma '00) physically transformed herself into Paris Hilton. She dyed her hair, lost 20 pounds, and acquired a fake tan. She then attempted to rescue Paris's dumb-blond reputation by demonstrating her own traditional domestic skills in a series of performances at Dinnerware Gallery in Tucson, Arizona. Paris cleans! Paris sews! Paris cooks!

Reactions to "Reclaiming Paris" were mixed. "Some people thought I was reinforcing bad stereotypes," Milkins reports. She sees a bigger picture, though. "I was looking at social hierarchy as far as media and women are concerned," she says. "I was also questioning my own assumptions about the value of beauty. I want to know what is good or bad about our culture's extreme focus on looks." 

Milkins, a painter and mixed-media artist as well as a performer, has long been interested in the changing roles of women in society. At the Museum School she worked with materials that traditionally have been "devalued," she says, such as paper and fabric; for one project she ripped apart romance novels and stitched them back together in traditional quilting patterns. Now completing an MFA at the University of Arizona, she has increasingly focused on performing, both in public spaces and on the Internet.

Besides "Reclaiming Paris," she created a work titled "Art Servant," in which she installed herself in a gallery, took e-mail requests for art projects, and then made the projects during live online broadcasts. For another—"Dress Me Sexy"—she invited people to choose seductive outfits for her to wear and then asked others to comment on the results.

Are these exercises in masochism or sociological experiments? "I am interested in community and engagement," Milkins says. "One way to create this engagement is to give away a part of myself: my thoughts, beliefs, abilities, even my body. I'm giving participants authorship over my public identity. This trust creates a strong, personal connection."

Milkins is currently collaborating with the performance artist Delia Oman on a piece titled "Perfect Woman Project": they've invited men to submit online descriptions of their ideal partner and to vote for their favorite submission. Milkins will then transform Oman to fit the winning description and send her on a series of dates, which will be broadcast live online, with the "winner."

Milkins designed the project with a sophisticated purpose—to examine "the commodification of bodies and the advertising of oneself as a product," she says. She was surprised by the " ephemeral" quality of the responses. "They’re not psychotic, and most aren't vulgar at all," she says. "They’re about relating to a person, not specific physical attributes. It's a Herculean task: how do you become someone's soulmate when attraction is so undefinable?"