AS THE ACADEMY TURNS ENV.13
(2011)
The starting point for AS THE ACADEMY TURNS env. 13 was an incident that occurred at a conference on higher education, artistic research, at a Biennale in Spain a few years back. The student group from Konstfack, including myself, witnessed the event when we were there on a school trip, and the biennial and conference visit was part of an extended curriculum. The incident? A dramatic and sudden interruption in the conference discussions was made by a person, unclear who or why, when they marched up to the stage and emptied a large bin of trash on the panel speakers.
The incident gave rise to a series of debates and heated emotions, as
well as silences that were so extreme that they seemed almost strategic.
Why had it been done? And what about the method?
Was it a needed interruption in a closed space marked
by impenetrable language, bonds (power structures) and non-access?
Or was it an unacceptable and violent attack against an open and
democratic debate? “If you have something to say, why not just say
it with words?”
The project worked in several ways with the discussions around and after the incident, and with focus on the process of collectively building an interpretation and understanding of what had occurred and why. Eye-witness personal accounts of the “trash-pouring event” were collected, discussions in the aftermath of the trip were dramatized and made into script.
Live performances in the final exhibition took place both as something similar to a theatre/ rehearsal and performance and in a temporary installation; and as “interventionist” –type surprise appearances in the common areas of the exhibition space.
Printed scripts were present in the exhibition site for everyone to read before, during and after the performances.
Performed live and with documentation of rehearsals with
Jessica Blomkvist, Joanna Dahlgren, Mats Lindblom, Victor Molino Sanchez, Cecilia Runesson and Malin Toverud.
See more documentation at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbpN5H7dcyw&t=59s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK3trjT5cMI
