Materiality tools
Tools for using materials, such as costumes, objects, posters, to create attention and convey messages and meaning.
Photo: NYU Library
CEGOS = BLIND (BR)
12 January 2013
Desvio Coletivo and Coletivo Pi
WHAT is the practice?
From the critical poetics of body art to the occupation of public space by social movements, the event invited participants to explore the borders, identities and practices through which subjectivities, hegemonies and counter-hegemonies are constructed in the spaces of the city and beyond.
WHY was it initiated?
Dozens of male and female executives, dressed in business attire, carrying suitcases, bags, cell phones and documents, covered in mud, blindfolded, walk very slowly, blending in with passers-by, destabilizing the daily flow of the city's financial and political center. Blind seeks to politically intervene in the city and provoke different readings.
HOW does it work?
Through a vast array of performances, exhibits, roundtables, workshops, lectures and work groups participants were prepared to move into public sites and utilize those as their stages.
KEY TOOLS
- Materiality tools
- Tactical tools
Learn more:
https://sites.dlib.nyu.edu/hidvl/kd51c7n0
https://www.nica-institute.com/urban-intervention-cegos-blind/
Photo: Nordting
NORDTING-NORTHERN ASSEMBLY (NO)
2014 - present
Amund Sjølie Sveen
WHAT is the practice?
Nordting consists of a wide array of different performative and participatory actions to unite “the north”. One of these are assembly meetings which in reality are activist interventions playing on the political phrase “Make the North Great Again”. Sjølie formed a political party under this slogan and continues to in a satirical way play on nationalist tendencies.
WHY was it initiated?
The Nordting is a playful political act to give emphasis to knowledges and presence of the arctic region and its colonial history. Through inviting the citizens to open assemblies called “ting” where they sing, dance and vote on and about causes relevant to the people. It’s aims is to enable and empower people to intervene and start public participation through reflection.
HOW does it work?
Interdisciplinary group of artists (dancers, composers, musicians, performance artists etc.) create events in the form of seemingly political gatherings, where voting is part of the game. In 2023 and 2024 Nordting produced Pan Arctic Vision, a song contest for the arctic region. They create events that mirror political events and infiltrate for instance in the labour day of May 1st, putting up new placards on colonial statues, changing names of places on indigenous lands and so forth.
KEY TOOLS:
- Materiality tools
- Tactic tools
- Participation tools
Learn more:
Photo: FRENCHCROW
RED REBEL BRIGADE (UK, NL, NO, +)
2019 - present
Doug Francisco with Extinction Rebellion
WHAT is the practice?
The Red Rebels Brigade was born on the occasion of the Extinction Rebellion protest in London. It is an international activist organisation that promotes performance dedicated to illuminating the global environmental crisis and supports groups and organisations fighting to save humanity and all species from mass extinction.
WHY was it initiated?
The Red Rebels Brigade was initiated to bring awareness on the phenomenon of mass extinction and to spark conversations around climate change. They symbolise grief, urgency, and solidarity in the face of the climate crisis. Their aesthetic methods have the purpose to draw the attention of the media and evoke a sense of mourning and awe in the spectators, eliciting emotional responses.
HOW does it work?
The Red Rebels are silent performative protesters. They wear red, symbolising the blood that is common to all living species, and paint their faces white and with stern expressions. The brigade embodies non-violent, visually striking protest tactics: their flowing red robes create spectacular effects in their choreographed, slow-motion protests, in which the Rebels usually gently place their hands on people, walls or statues. The brigade appears at climate protests, blockades and sit-ins. They were present at COP conferences and climate summits.
KEY TOOLS:
- Materiality tools
- Participation tools
- Tactical tools
Learn more:
Short film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsCxA5Ykk-g
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/red_rebels_nl/
Website: https://redrebelbrigade.com/
Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra
SUN & SEA (IT)
May – November 2019
Lina Lapelytė, Vaiva Grainytė, Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė
WHAT is the practice?
Sun & Sea (Marina) was presented at the 58th International Art Exhibition at the Biennale di Venezia. Part of the Lithuanian Pavilion, it was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation. Twenty-four performers enact a day on the beach, featuring music and singing songs which address the worries of climate change.
WHY was it initiated?
The piece Sun & Sea raises awareness around climate change and is a criticism of consumerism. It points out how we are dooming our planet by ignoring continuous waste, with our inaction towards the environment and climate change. We worry about these issues, but we seldom act on them. Sun & Sea is also a reflection on the risk of losing natural elements like a beach: it feels like a utopian dream of a beach, which could be what remains in the future.
HOW does it work?
Sun & Sea (Marina) is an opera-performance which is an hour long. Twenty-four performers and singers impersonate families on a leisurely day at the beach. It features original music and arias, which refer to themes of worry, boredom, and anxieties around climate change, extreme natural disasters, tides, ocean pollution, and environmental threats. Sun & Sea has been displayed in several occasions and different languages, after being first presented at the 2019 Biennale. The music is pleasant, and little details become apparent as the performance progresses: littered plastic around the beach, no water, the lack of shadows.
KEY TOOLS:
- Materiality tools
- Teaching tools
Learn more:
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeCek-KVKP4
Website: https://www.sunandsea.lt/en