Performance

Miriam Kongstad

Name: Miriam Kongstad - Bitch
Start: 2023-10-21
End: 2023-10-21
Location: Centre Pompidou

Bitch

21 Oct 2023

Centre Pompidou, Paris

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On the occasion of the Paris+ by Art Basel fair (October 18th-22nd 2023), the Centre Pompidou presents three performative artistic proposals by three artists who place the body as a recurring and fleeting element of their plastic vocabulary. This program of performances is presented in different places of the Centre Pompidou (Petite Salle, Forum-1 and the Musée, floor 5).

For more than six centuries the term ‘bitch’ has been used as a vulgarism, describing promiscuous and sensual women; a metaphorical extension of the behaviour of a dog in heat. Linguistically, ‘bitch’ simply means female dog.

Miriam Kongstad’s performances are highly image-based, rather than creating clear narratives, they are dominated by visual metaphors. Scenarios from her performances are directly pouring over into her paintings and sculptures and vice versa, as feedback loops across genres. ‘Bitch’ draws on a multitude of previous works by the artist, exploring desire, drive, sexuality and ambivalence. What are the codes, power structures, and libidinal economies at play within contemporary passion, desire, and love?

Title: Bitch
Concept, choreography, direction: Miriam Kongstad
Performed by: Josefine Struckmann, Thjerza Balaj, Sofie Winther Foged, Miriam Kongstad
Sound design: Josefine Struckmann
Costumes: Puer Parasitus
Commissioned by Centre Pompidou and Le Bicolore - Maison du Danemark
Curated by Anya Harrison, Caroline Ferreira D'Oliveira
Production: Rebecca Helewa Graversen, Anton Moret
Premiered in the framework of "X. A Capital Desire" at Le Bicolore and Paris+ par Art Basel
Supported by: The Danish Arts Foundation, Bikubenfonden, Det Obelske Familiefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet

For more information and an interview video by the artiste about the performance: Miriam Kongstad Performance BITCH | Le Bicolore

Biography

Miriam Kongstad (born 1991 in Denmark) is an artist based in Berlin and Copenhagen. After training in choreography and performance, her work explores the themes of incarnation and the human body, through image, installation, performance, sculpture and sound. It questions the cultural and political structures surrounding the human body while focusing on themes such as identity, sexuality, health, desire, pain and pleasure. How currents and societies change bodies and ideals? How bodies and ideals change societies, through metaphysical, organic, social, and spiritual aspects of body incarnation?

Miriam Kongstad studied choreography and performance at the Hochschulübergreifendes Zentrum Tanz Berlin (HZT) and obtained her MFA in 2020 at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. Her work was recently presented at The National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (2022), Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen (2022), Het HEM, Zandaam (2020), Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2021), KØS - Museum of Art in Public Spaces, Køge (2020), Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus (2019), MMAG Foundation, Amman (2019), Fundación Botín, Santander (2017), Sophiensaele, Berlin (2017), Panoply Performance Lab., New York (2016) and Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2015).

Where

Level –1

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