We have had the pleasure of translating Hör så tyst det är to Finnish in collaboration with the performer Majula Drammeh through generous support from Assitej Finland. The translation was made to enable a 10 day tour during Bravo!-festival to Luckan and Stoa in Helsinki, Aurora in Espoo, Mosaiikki in Vantaa and Grankulla Youth Hall.
Photo: Gisela Montonen, Grankulla stad.
Composer Elize on tour as technician, director Gabriel on tour as host and director Ebba on tour as performer. We also had Mattias Hållsten as a technician during many of the shows.
In connection to Passivity Rules/Memories of Being Hanged premiering, the makers Tova Gerge and Britta Kiessling hosted three conversations about passivity with three different guests. Kind of like podcasts but live and on screen. Watch them/hear them here:
Marika Leïla Roux aka Gorgone:
PassiviTV the 20th of November was about being tied and tying in the context of rope bondage: what these roles and their respective skill sets can mean, on a metaphorical as well as aesthetic level. Marika Leïla Roux aka Gorgone has many years of exploration and experimentation with the traditional techniques and emotions of Japanese Rope Bondage (Shibari/Kinbaku). Since discovering ropes in 2011, she has been a professional shibari model and rigger, teaching and performing worldwide. She emphasises the artistic, metaphorical and sensual nuances of this practice. An example is her durational project Study on Falling, exploring the relation between the body and gravity in ropes. She is also the founder of the online tutorials platform Shibari Study.
Artist-researcher Hamish MacPherson:
PassiviTV the 21 of November was about kink and choreography, politics and passivity. Hamish MacPherson is an artist-researcher in the crossovers between choreography and philosophy. He is busy with the dark and complicated aspects of care, pleasure, passivity and power. Lately, he has been working with the zine STILL LIFE, which is about relationships and configurations in which one person is still while others are not. Or where one person is passive and others are active. Or about the different kinds of knowledge that people have about their own and other people’s bodies. And the kind of philosophical and political understandings woven into that knowledge.
Författaren Eli Levén:
PassiviTV den 22 november handlade om queera helgon, makten, maktlösheten och litteraturen som kraftfull betraktare. Eli Levéns båda romaner “Du är rötterna som sover vid mina fötter och håller jorden på plats” (2010) och “Hur jag skulle vilja försvinna” (2020) berör skymningslanden mellan begär och utplåning, upprättelse och förnedring. Med språket som hållande och lyssnande kraft låter Levén ofta sina karaktärer vistas i olika gränstillstånd som också berör det passiva: i sexualiteten, i livets flöden, i närheten till döden och andlighet. Levéns första bok gav upphov till två filmer: guldbaggebelönade Nånting måste gå sönder (2014) och dokumentären Pojktanten (2012).
The movie Passivity Rules/Memories of Being Hanged is also available during the holidays, 22 dec 2020 – 2 jan 2021:
Nyxxx tarot deck was originally designed for our work Tactical meditations in 2015. The cards are now available online, including instructions on how to use them. They can work as a conversation starter two or more participants.
Dealing with covid-19 is a big part of 2020, also for the performing arts. In September, we premiered a covid-adapted interactive sound performance for school classes, and now the dance project Passivity Rules /Memories of Being Hanged that Nyxxx is coproducing met the hardening regulations in Sweden through making a movie and online conversations instead of a live premiere. This adventure takes place 20-22 of November, and you can sign up at Skogens homepage.
All the online events:
20 NOV
18.00 PassiviTV with Marika Leïla aka Gorgone
19.00 Online movie screening
21 NOV
18.00 PassiviTV with Hamish McPherson
19.00 Online movie screening
22 NOV
16.00 PassiviTV med Eli Levén (in Swedish)
17.00 Online movie screening
Together with the team at Art Inside Out we have done a magazine, available online and in print, in Swedish as well as English. Check it out here or order a print copy at info@artinsideout.se.
Tova’s interview book Working on Travel aka Trains and Boats and Planes where also Gabriel (who by the way did the type setting for the book) and Ebba from Nyxxx are represented, has arrived from the print. The book can be downloaded as a pdf here:
As part of the Art Inside Out residency program we thought a lot about the borders between stage and salon. We ended up sewing a new curtain for Laholms teater.
Thanks to Søren Rye and Sofia Luna for joining in the process.
To celebrate the occasion, here are some words about the technique we’re using on stage and all the people who taught us. We practice a technique of rope bondage called shibari, kinbaku or Japanese rope bondage. It has a long, complex and international history connected to both art and pornography. Though we tie improvised patterns, we have studied with many teachers to be able to do what we do. Thus, a special thanks to Bergborg, Dasniya Sommer, Naka Akira, Hourai Kasumi, Kanna & Kagura, Gorgone, Pilar Aldea, Gestalta, Hedwig, Pedro and others, not least the ones who tied us or got tied by us.
With & by: Tova Gerge & Britta Kiessling
Sound: Elize Arvefjord
Room: Josefina Björk
Process developement: Christian Nilsson, Gabriel Widing & Ebba Petrén
Co-producers: Nyxxx & Skogen
With the support of: Skogen, Japanstiftelsen, Längmanska kulturfonden, The Swedish Art’s Grant Committee, Cirkör LAB, c.off and Stockholm County Council
