April 21,22 + 23. Nuances of M / Katja Seitajoki+Caroline Byström
A room, a body, and several Medusas melting together, blending, and appearing in camouflaged figures and masked faces. The masks conceal, protect or reveal. Languages are mediated through these masks that we constantly wear and are defined by. Linguistic masks, which we use in order to create meaning, and poetic masks, which play with the violence of language.
The performance is a contemplation of Medusa’s language, energy and force. Medusa assembles the passions of anger, and lets its energy create movement. Identity appears in the transition as a visual strategy to confuse and deceive the viewer from distinguishing the identity of the one camouflaged. The laughing Medusa puts movement into meaning – it is a body that resists in each moment.
The performance April 21 will be combined with a lecture by Mara Lee. The lecture is in swedish and starts at 8pm
The performance April 22 will be combined with a lecture by Rudy Loewe. The lecture is in english and starts at 8pmThe performance April 23 will be combined with a reading of “The Laugh of the Medusa” by Hélène Cixous.
Concept and choreography: Katja Seitajoki in collaboration with Caroline Byström
Performed by: Caroline Byström
Light design: Ronald Salas
Music/Sound: Lisa Ullén and Sofia Jernberg
Photo: José Figueroa
Developed in residency at and supported by Weld
With support by City of Stockholm
Nuances of M is the second piece in Katja Seitajoki’s performance trilogy that speaks about camouflage as a concept. In the trilogy the concept is linked to visible and invisible patterns and structures in society. Camouflage is not solely used with the purpose to cover or disguise, but also as a tool for us to act with and adapt to our surroundings. It is a negotiation between the subject and the surrounding environment. Seitajoki’s trilogy asks the question: which bodies are accepted in a society?
In March 2016 the performance Camouflage – patterns in motion premiered at Inkonst in Malmö, and it was thereafter performed at Turteatern in Stockholm in collaboration with MDT. The project explored how boundaries can transform into passages when different movement languages camouflage each other. Three dancers, with backgrounds in Western Contemporary dance, West-African Modern Dance, and Indian Contemporary Bharata Natyam dance, blend together and transform the room. Power structures between bodies are displaced and meaningful systems need to be reconsidered.
The last performance in the Camouflage trilogy will premiere during summer 2018 at Träskbiennalen at Art Lab Gnesta.