Coco Fusco
Performance:
Antigone Is Not Available Right Now
8/9 December 23, 7 pm
10 December 23, 5 pm
Venue: Sophiensæle, Sophienstraße 18, 10178 Berlin
In English
++ SOLD OUT ++
After the performance on Sunday 10 December, 2023, a Q&A with Coco Fusco will take place, which will be moderated by Léon Kruijswijk, co-curator of the exhibition Coco Fusco – Tomorrow, I Will Become an Island.
Coco Fusco, Antigone. Video still. Courtesy the artist.
For the newly commissioned multimedia performance Antigone Is Not Available Right Now, Coco Fusco departs from the tragedy of Sophocles—the most widely staged play from Ancient Greece. Antigone’s defiance of her uncle Kreon’s authority has come to stand for all kinds of challenges to authoritarianism. For instance, she has been marshalled as a allegorical image against fascism, Communism, apartheid, military dictatorships, and police violence.
In Antigone Is Not Available Right Now, Antigone has re-established contact with the world of the living. Represented by her literary agent, played by Fusco, Antigone receives multiple requests for use of her likeness by people around the world that want to stand up to tyranny. Fusco acts as a go-between, deciding when to connect these characters with Oedipus’ infamous daughter and helping Antigone to assess the validity and quality of the requests. The performance reflects on the capacity of foundational myths to galvanize change in times of political crisis.
Antigone Is Not Available Right Now is commissioned by KW Institute for Contemporary Art, and is presented in collaboration with Sophiensæle. At Sophiensæle, the performance is part of the 23/24 opening program.
Antigone Is Not Available Right Now is written, directed and produced by Coco Fusco
Videography: Ryan Wang and Luis Eligio Pérez
Sound: Rosana Caban and Osmel Hernandez
Editor: Jessie Stead
Animations: Melissa Brown and Brian Luna
Props: Sandra Cordero
Cuban Masks: Julio Llópiz Casal
Makeup: Kate Cohen
Blind Man’s Rant Music composed and arranged by Jessie Stead
Passages from Sophocles’ Antigone are from Ian Johnston’s translation, with adaptations by Coco Fusco.
The exhibition Coco Fusco – Tomorrow, I Will Become an Island at KW is funded by Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation). Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation) is funded by the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (German Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media).