Between May 24 and 29, Alexandra Pirici’s work “Delicate Instruments of Engagement” can be visited at Kiasma – Finnish National Gallery.
For this performance, Alexandra Pirici revisits images and events that have become iconic in our time, exploring the disappearing boundaries between politics and pop culture in contemporary societies.
The performance created together with the performers Paul Dunca/Dunker, Mihai Mihalcea, Maria Mora, Cristian Nanculescu and Cristina Toma is a mixture of memes on the internet, important pop culture events, images, situations and political speeches through which the artist examines the history of art and politics. Elements include Rembrandt’s painting The Abduction of Europa, Salvador Allende’s last speech, George Michael Freedom’s’ 90s hit, the Google search engine, and John Travolta’s meme. Examining the political gestures of our time, the piece raises questions about agency and power, highlighting the interaction between classification and control systems.
The piece does not have a real beginning or end, it can be watched as long as the spectator wants. The public is also free to move around the exhibition space where the work is performed.
Delicate Instruments of Engagement can be viewed from May 24 to 29 by purchasing a ticket to the Finnish National Gallery.
About Alexandra Pirici
Alexandra Pirici is a Romanian artist and choreographer and one of the leading figures of contemporary performance art. The themes addressed in her works include history, the structures of invisible power, and the construction of reality by the spread of popular culture. The form and content of her work revolves around an understanding of history as a contested collection of constantly reconfigured narratives.
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“Delicate Instruments of Engagement” is a project of the Impulse Theater Festival and the FFT Düsseldorf, in cooperation with the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, The National Center for Dance Bucharest, HAU Hebbel am Ufer and Tanzquartier Wien.
