Performance von Nicola Kötterl im Rahmen der Ausstellung "TAKING SPACE IS A FEMINIST ACT"

In the organizer's words:

During 48 Stunden Neukölln, the gallery space of Galerie im Saalbau will be activated by a 15-minute performance by Nicola Kötterl, Eléonore Bovet, Wiebke Dobers.

The performance will take place as part of the exhibition TAKING SPACE IS A FEMINIST ACT, curated by Clara von Schwerin, on June 28, 2025 several times, at 14:00, 16:00 and 18:00. Free admission.

In her works, Nicola Kötterl critically examines the representation, construction and instrumentalization of body images. In the video works (ANTI-)KÖRPER and GESTUS, which are shown in the exhibition TAKING SPACE IS A FEMINIST ACT in the Galerie im Saalbau, she examines the ideological charges of idealized body representations. The performances took place in historical buildings with a National Socialist past - the Kunstpavillon München and the Museum für Abgüsse klassischer Bildwerke. The architecture of German fascism is monumental, loud and straightforward. It was intended to embody power, superiority and strength and to impress and intimidate the population. With the same intention, National Socialist propaganda art made use of the aesthetics of ancient Greek statues.

Kötterl uses these contexts to deconstruct images of the body that have been shaped by architecture, sculpture and art history as representations of power, masculinity and grandeur and which continue to have an impact to this day. Ancient statues and athletic poses are gesturally examined, abstracted and refracted through modern staging techniques. The performers interact with space, sound and moving installations, creating an atmosphere of friction between monumentality and fragility, between attribution and resistance. Musical accompaniment - with references ranging from marching bands to jazz and electronic sounds - complements the physical confrontation with a sonic level that picks up on historical narratives or consciously opposes them.