Conversation piece I
An interactive performance, that took place 11 of May 2019 at c.off . Ongoing artistic research/series of work
Conversation piece is a series of moderated conversations, an interactive performance, as a way of examining the conversation as an artform or ritual.
In my artistic research I want to examine personal stories from new angles; also, to examine a non-hierarchic way of communicating.
As a pocket of resistance against the system I called my conversation piece nr 1
The tiny refusal in dialogue with Herbert Marcuse, who wrote about what he stated was the Great Refusal. He argues that "advanced industrial society" creates false needs, which integrated individuals into the existing system of production and consumption via mass media, advertising, industrial management, and contemporary modes of thought.
“This results in a "one-dimensional" universe of thought and behaviour, in which aptitude and ability for critical thought and oppositional behaviour wither away. Against this prevailing climate, Marcuse promotes the “great refusal” (described at length in the book) as the only adequate opposition to all-encompassing methods of control. Much of the book is a defence of "negative thinking" as a disrupting force against the prevailing positivism. Marcuse strongly criticises consumerism and modern "industrial society", which he claims is a form of social control. Marcuse argues that while the system we live in may claim to be democratic, it is actually totalitarian. A form of technological rationality has imposed itself on every aspect of culture and public life, and has become hegemonic. Our identification with this hegemonic ideology of modern industrial society, this ideology does not represent a form of "false-conscious", but rather has succeeded in becoming reality.”
(summary from Wikipedia)
A description of the actual performance:
I create a score for the conversation. This is a thought-out way of making the participants feel as comfortable as possible. They don´t have to feel like they have to make a statement or an impression. The participants do not introduce themselves nor do they have to talk about private things or explain their profession. Nevertheless, it is a profound touching experience and very personal.
All is carefully prepared and moderated by the artist/poet.
The result of the first conversation piece took place at c.off in Stockholm in May 2019. There was deliberately no documentation from this session, and who was participating is forever a secret.
This is a continuous work and is planned to take place in a series of conversation as an ongoing research about communication and connection. It will increasingly be documented in photo and writing, and every conversation has a unique score, but it is the same concept. It is a conversation that is both hopefully deeply meaningful, a unique experience but at the same time it is l'art pour l'art – it’s a happening, and event, a performance made for the participants in it.
You are having a conversation, but you don’t get to or have to choose the subject. You are a listener and you are a performer without having to have any ambitions. How does this affect us as individuals? It’s liberating. We are not producing anything. We are not networking.
It is a tiny refusal.
Conversation piece II-III
The conversations will have the same concept but a slightly different score.
What we say is important, but it is spontaneous and not thought through. It has to exist within a framework, which paradoxically enough makes the individual freer.
You don’t have to prove yourself, we are all examining what comes out of our mouths when we speak without unconsciously trying to gain something or having to position ourselves in relation to other people, since we don’t know who they are, and we are all part of a piece of art; an unique experience, a real escape in the consumerism world.
Examination, part 1
I revisited what I did when I worked with theatre, it’s been over ten years, since then I realised it was not theatre I did. I was in some sort of conflict with the genre, but unwillingly, I just wanted to do what I wanted to do, I wasn’t trying to do something new with theatre as form per se - that never occurred to me.
I just do the same things I always do with some variations, as those familiar with my work for the stage can see in these pictures. So I am doing the same kind of work but I am re-framing it as simply ART, art for the stage or performance art. In this context,I am free to work with authencity rather than story. With starting points very different from theatre, and above all, free from genre-thinking.
With these magical performers in addition of my daughter I did a piece called ATLAS. It is about the relationship between grown-ups and children and about love in the anthropocene. I am so grateful for this education, at Uniarts, a one year program for professional artists, dancers, actors, writers. I’m reconnecting. It’s crystal clear.
Life/Work: Work from the present and the past, as well as new texts, reflections and recurrent themes.
To listen to some of my texts in Tankar för dagen (Thoughts of the day) on Sveriges Radio, find episodes here >>