Vision Forum at documenta fifteen
Vision Forum is proud to announce that we will present “Marassa Jumeaux” at documenta fifteen June 17, 18 and 19 with Atis Resizstans/Ghetto Biennial at St. Kunigundis, Leipziper str. 145, Kassel. The performance will start at 19h June 17 and 20h June 18 and 19.
Background to the piece:
During the 6th Ghetto Biennial 2019, Carima Neusser created the performance “Ghetto Gucci” together with Adriana Benjamin, Michel LaFleur and Jerry Reginald Chery. Per Huttner created the music for the piece. In the preparations for the 2019 biennial Carima and Adriana danced together every day. They immediately understood each other through dance. This world-less communication forms the foundation for the performance and continued when she invited the rest of the team to participate.
In winter 2022, we were invited to participate in documenta fifteen to re-stage the performance June 17-19. A few weeks before the opening of documenta, they informed us that we could not show Ghetto Gucci (or rather one of the two key scenes.) We tried to insist, since nothing had changed in our plans and they knew all about the content of the performance all along. But sadly the documenta team were not even open to discuss. They simply said we could not show that scene. So, the group had to quickly come up with some new ideas.
The five artists together developed the new piece together in the church. In the performance, the installed artwork (from Atis Resizstans/Ghetto Biennial) as well as the architecture of St. Kunigundas became key to the performance. The two form our common experience and our main inspiration. The sculptures are particularly important in the piece. (To give an example: in Ghetto Gucci there are projections of heroes from the Haitian revolution. However rather than showing these, we just highlighted an image that already existed in the exhibition of a revolutionary hero.) The group was also joined by Atis Resizstans artists Jerry, Kervens Louis and Herold Pierre Louis.
We call the performance “Marassa Jumeaux” since there is always a doubling of performers (Carima and Nanna, Michel and Jerry, Kervens and Herold). The twins sometimes become three and that is why there are three performers in the final scene.
Since the group does not really have a language in common, they have used art, performance, choreography, music as the main tools to develop the piece together. It brings together contemporary western artistic traits with traditional Haitian ideas, movements and sensibilities. We never talk about this, it just happens naturally. There are therefore elements in the performance that allow western and Haitian ontologies (especially about life and death) to meet and possibly merge.
Ghetto Gucci is a performance developed jointly by Swedish and Haitian artists under the direction of the Swedish choreographer Carima Neusser. It will also be shown at Weld in Stockholm June 26 and 27. Long time Vision Forum participant Jean-Louis Huhta will also perform at St. Kunigundis June 17. The presentations are supported by the Swedish Arts Grants Committee, The Swedish Arts Council and Helge Ax:son Johnsons stiftelse.