A walk for the future/På väg till framtiden
Filip Kijowski, 1994, Poland
In a performance work, Filip Kijowski shines a spotlight on heroes who break patterns and revitalize society.
In 1971, Vanja Södergren and her girlfriend wanted to announce their engagement in the newspaper, but the editor-in-chief refused to publish joy over homosexual love. In anger, Vanja took the initiative for Europe’s very first pride parade, right here in Örebro. The Gay Power Club was organized. Everyone has equal value, Homosex is human, the poster read. Vanja herself carried the message "Knowledge destroys prejudices".
Kijowski’s work takes inspiration from this ground-breaking demonstration. Vanja is given a central role. The queer community is invited to join. The choreography reinforces the conviction that words must be followed by action. A Walk for the Future will be performed at the OpenArt opening.
Date, time & place:
Saturday 15 June at 14:30
Starts at Järntorget – moving choreography via Storgatan towards Stortorget.
Carbon Capture Storage
Mattias Käll, 1977, Sweden
Our consumption generates large amounts of carbon dioxide, which is bound in organic materials through photosynthesis. In this performance, the artist carries a wooden cube that binds one day's carbon footprint from one person.
Date, time & place:
Saturday 15 June at 13:30 and 14.
Stortorget
El Rey gick ovan el Rainbow blev en vacker Rosa, festmåltid på Ekekas Mantel
Valeria Montti Colque, 1978, Sverige
El Rey gick ovan el Rainbow blev en vacker Rosa, festmåltid på Ekekas Mantel is an installation and performance artwork by Valeria Montti Colque, produced by Public Art Agency Sweden for OPENART. On 15 June, the audience can, as if in a ritual, be led by colourful characters in a procession from Örebro Castle to the statue of Karl XIV Johan – a place that is no longer quite itself. The king has been transformed into an Ekeka – a goddess created by the artist – who represents wealth and prosperity. The area is enveloped by a huge mantle adorned with a rainbow consisting of 13 colours. The inspiration for the work comes from a collective endeavour during the pandemic in which 500 traditional Mapuche weavers in Chile came together to create a one-kilometre-long weaving. Together with the audience, a sacred mountain of memories is constructed from objects and images that were submitted by Örebro residents during the spring. The mountain is placed onto a raft while participants, spectators and the birds that often frequent the statue of the king are treated to a festive meal.
Date, time & place:
Saturday 15 June at 13:30.
The parade starts at Örebro Castle and ends at Henry Allard Park.
In collaboration with Public Art Agency Sweden.
Vessel
Nic Wilson & Hannah Godfrey
Nic Wilson will exhibit a performance work at OpenArt’s opening. Vessel is the ambiguous title that can mean ship, aircraft, container, artery, holder of a spiritual quality, and so much more. The act features two people. Through gestures, movements and narrated text, they explore various expressions of both Christian thought and queer people’s social interaction with society. The ways of doing this fluctuate between times and cultures. They can, the artist says, be skewed, invisible and simultaneously always present. Without being a believer himself, Nic Wilson has delved into the Christian worldview and its impact on culture. Vessel also touches on exchange and intimacy in the queer community. Nic Wilson and writer and artist Hannah Godfrey perform in Vessel.
Date, time & place:
Saturday 15 June at 15.45 in Nikolaikyrkan, Drottninggatan 16.
Via Dolorosa - Bidrag till Sveriges Konstkanon
Ellen Freed, 1988, Sverige
This work emerges as a dramatization, in which the artist walks the Way of Suffering. She drags an iron maiden with her, a horrific device of torture and execution in which the victim is enclosed in a body-shaped coffin full of iron spikes. Iron maidens have existed since the 18th century but were never actually used.
The martyrs here are culture and artists. Freed happened upon criticism on social media that OpenArt steals resources from other things. Culture is made into a scapegoat when welfare is dismantled. Freed has set the comments to music with choral arrangements. In a suit by Dean Karl Wellings, she walks from an industrial area, where OpenArt has offices, to the municipal service centre in the middle of the city.
Date, time & place:
Saturday 7 September. z
The performance starts at OpenArt's office premises at Stångjärnsgatan 6, at 13, approximate finish at Olof Palme square, at 14-14.30
