World Festival Premiere

Everything that appears self-evident and normal today once came into being. COMPASSION AND INCONVENIENCE questions the artistic field by historicising it and suggests a different context of origin than those usually considered. Specifically, the essay performance video looks at the first public exhibitions of contemporary art in mid-18th century London, as well as the episodes and circumstances leading up to them. An oft-overlooked care facility for “deserted young children” is set as the genesis for the establishment of European art institutions, in which private economic and colonial interests intersect with notions of benevolence and the pursuit of refinement. Historical texts are recited by a cast whose speaking positions differ from those of the sources’ authors. By using performance as a means of repetition with a difference, the work addresses the complex legacy positions produced by art’s institutionalised structures.

• Programm Programme: International Competition 4