Kulla-Gulla, Fassbinder and I

Photo: José Figueroa

Inkonst, Malmö, MDT, Stockholm and Uppsala Stadsteater 2011

Arena Baubo is exploring the dance that emerges when we are unable to take responsibility for our own emotions.

Kulla-Gulla, Fassbinder and I is an installation consisting of a network of performative actions. Deconstructed and rotating power structures form a series of dysfunctional situations. We become co-dependent on the drug addict, the bun-baking mother, Fassbinder, Kulla-Gulla, the emotionally vulnerable, the psychopath, the starving child, the audience and the lonely artist. We take the role of the hero, the victim or the persecutor and prescribe another role on the ones we are relating to. Then we swap. Searching for situations where the roles become inevitable we await the spectators' positions in the triangle. Then the dance begins.

Co-dependency is the term traditionally used to describe the situation of a partner or close family member of a person with a drug addiction or mental illness. The concept is being expanded to relate to society and bring attention to current political situations and power positions. Making use of the unforseen events that arise in public spaces with social interaction, the aim is to provoke responses that initiate new artistic impulses and unexpected turns. These spaces include the press such as TV, news papers, radio and social networks.

The work follows an anti-hierarchical method where everybody is leading and given space for their artistic ideas. The participants different backgrounds within performing and visual arts stimulate the collective process.

A nordic collaboration between Kjersti Vetterstad, Outi Condit, Maria Stiernborg, Kajsa Wadhia, Katja Seitajoki and Lina Benneth initiated by Arena Baubo.

Oline Stig / Sydsvenskan
www.sydsvenskan.se

Iggy Malmborg / Sydsvenskan
www.sydsvenskan.se

Barbro Westling / Sydsvenskan
www.sydsvenskan.se

Supported by Swedish Art Council, Konstnärsnämnden, Nordic Culture Point, MDT and Studiefrämjandet  