(For English version see below)
Den aktuelle udstilling Artificial Optimism (indtil 27. oktober 2024) undersøger den italienske futurismens resonanser i samtidskunst. Som del af udstillingen, afholdes der løbende performances og koncerter af nogle af de deltagende kunstnere. Performance var central for futurismen og programmet er inspireret af de aftener og eftermiddage som futuristerne afholdt mellem 1909 og 1914, hvor de præsenterede kombinationer af oplæsninger, lydkunst, happenings m.m.
Udstillingens performanceprogram er udviklet i regi af Toaster, der er et samarbejde mellem Husets Teater og Den Frie. Toaster er en performanceplatform for krydsfeltet mellem teater og billedkunst.
Performancerne er gratis når entré til udstillingen er betalt og adgang er først-til-mølle.
Performance Serata IV: Thjerza Balaj & Miriam Kongstad
Thjerza Balaj (*1995, NO/DK)
ANTAGONIST, 2024, Performance
Ifølge Thjerza Balaj besidder dans et unikt potentiale for at udfordre samfundets repræsentationer og magtdynamikker. Det arbejder hun selv med gennem intense performances, der aktivt skubber grænserne for udtryk og intimitet. En af de gennemgående fascinationer for Balaj er det kvindelige bliks potentiale som modmagt og protest og dets evne til at udfordre sociale normer. Kunstnerens seneste performance, ANTAGONIST(2024), får sin premiere på denne udstilling. I en scenografi badet i strobelys og pulserende musik, danser konstant bevægende kroppe med vind i håret. Dette univers, der mest af alt minder om en elektrificeret rockkoncert, hylder og personificerer antagonisten på samme måde som rockstjerner har gjort gennem tiderne. Performancen udforsker, hvordan vores samfund har iført sig Disney-briller, der simplificerer verden til en kamp mellem det gode og det onde. Den fremhæver, hvordan vi hylder helte med de “rigtige” værdier, mens vi dæmoniserer dem med de “forkerte.” Med sit værk forsøger Balaj at afdække værdihykleriet, hvor vi udskammer mennesker for visse handlinger, men vælger at ignorere dem, når det kræver drastiske ændringer i vores egen komfortable livsstil. ANTAGONIST søger at demonstrere, at vi ofte opdager mere om os selv ved at spejle os i antagonisten fremfor idolet og derved finder indsigt i de skygger, vi normalt undgår.
Miriam Kongstad (*1991, DK)
HARD PLAY, 2024, Performance, 45 min
Børnelege opfattes ofte som harmløse og uskyldige, men hvordan påvirker legen vores socialisering, identitet og værdier senere i livet? Med udgangspunkt i en række velkendte børnelege kan HARD PLAY(2024) anskues som en koreografisk analyse af legens konstruktion – de dynamikker, kønsidentiteter og sociale normer, som vi tillæres i en tidlig alder. I performanceværket isoleres, dekonstrueres og samples bevægelser fra legens univers med omdrejningspunkt i en central rekvisit: en 1,5 meter lang fletning påsat kunstnerens hår. I løbet af værket forvandler fletningen sig fra en prinsesses hår til hundesnor, lasso og pisk, alt i mens vi dykker ned i en verden af eufori, fantasi og skræk. Miriam Kongstads praksis kredser ofte om samspillet mellem krop og samfund. I sine værker artikulerer hun flertydige og komplicerede aspekter af livet såsom sundhed, identitet, seksualitet, smerte og begær, hvorved menneskekroppen udforskes som en metafysisk, organisk, social og åndelig enhed. I den historiske futurisme var tematiseringen af og diskussioner om køn central fra første færd. Som reaktion på F. T. Marinettis anti-feminisme i “Futurismens Grundlæggelse og manifest” (“Fondazione e Manifesto del Futurismo”, 1909) svarer en række kvindelige futuristiske igen med udviklingen af en kvindelig futurisme, heriblandt Valentine de Saint-Point, Rosa Rosà, Enif Robert og Futurluce. De tegner igennem 1910’erne et mere nuanceret billede af futurismens kønskamp og åbenhed for nye kønsdefinitioner.
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English version
Artificial Optimism is an exhibition about the resonances of futurism in contemporary art, which can be experienced at Den Frie Udstillingsbygning from Aug. 24th – Oct. 27th 2024. During the exhibition period, performances and concerts by the exhibiting artists will be regularly held. Performance was central to futurism and the program is inspired by the evenings and afternoons that the futurists held between 1909 and 1914, where they presented combinations of readings, sound art, happenings, etc.
The exhibition’s performance program has been developed under the auspices of Toaster, a collaboration between Husets Teater and Den Frie.
Participation in the performance program is free when the ticket to the exhibition has been paid.
Performance Serata IV: Thjerza Balaj & Miriam Kongstad
Thjerza Balaj (*1995, NO/DK)
ANTAGONIST, 2024, Performance
Thjerza Balaj believes that dance has unique potential for pushing back at society’s representations and power dynamics. She works with this aspect in her own art through intense performances that actively probe the boundaries of expression and intimacy. One of Thjerza Balaj’s main fascinations concerns the potential of the female gaze as a force for resistance and protest and its ability to challenge social norms. Thjerza Balaj’s latest performance, ANTAGONIST (2024), premieres at this exhibition. Set within a stage design bathed in strobe lights and pulsating music, constantly moving bodies dance with wind in their hair. This universe, reminiscent of an electrified rock concert, celebrates and personifies the antagonist in the same way rock stars have done throughout history. The performance explores how our society has donned Disney-colored glasses, simplifying the world into a battle between good and evil. It highlights how we celebrate heroes with the “right” values while demonizing those with the “wrong” ones. With her work Balaj seeks to expose the hypocrisy in our values, where we shame people for certain actions but choose to ignore them when it requires drastic changes in our own comfortable lifestyles. ANTAGONIST aims to demonstrate that we often discover more about ourselves by reflecting on the antagonist rather than the idol, thus gaining insight into the shadows we usually avoid.
Miriam Kongstad (*1991, DK)
HARD PLAY, 2024, Performance, 45 min
Children’s games are usually perceived as harmless and innocent. However, as gender studies has taught us, play is also crucially important to our processes of socialisation and for the construction of the self-image and values we take with us into adulthood. HARD PLAY (2024) is a choreographic analysis of a variety of children’s games. The performance work explores how we are taught to perform gender identities and social norms from an early age. In the work, fragments of children’s games are connected by a central prop: a 1.5-metre-long braid attached to the artist’s hair. The braid is transformed in terms of usage throughout the performance, serving variously as fairy-tale princess hair, dog leash, lasso, rope and whip, all while we delve further into a world of joy, imagination and terror. Miriam Kongstad’s practice often revolves around the interaction between body and society. In her works she articulates ambiguous and complicated aspects of existence: health, sexuality, pain and desire, and she explores the human body as a metaphysical, organic, social and spiritual entity. In the historical Futurist movement, gender was a central theme and topic for discussion right from the outset. In response to the anti-feminism in F. T. Marinetti’s “The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism” (“Fondazione e Manifesto del Futurismo”, 1909) a group of female artists including Valentine de Saint-Point, Rosa Rosà, Enif Robert and Futurluce works during the 1910’s to articulate a feminist Futurism. They paint a more nuanced picture of Futurism’s gender struggle and openness to new gender definitions.