The 2021 Live Art Prize shortlist & Shortlist LIVE! Programme
Media release 21.6.2021
ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival is proud to present the four shortlisted artists for the 2021 ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art and their performances in the Shortlist LIVE! Programme.
The nominees for the 2021 ANTI Festival International Prize for Live are: Alex Baczynski-Jenkins (Poland/UK), keyon gaskin (United States), Florentina Holzinger (Austria) and Narcissister (United States).
We are excited to present the 3rd edition of the Shortlist LIVE! Programme: the nominees’ performances will be experienced live during the ANTI Festival taking place in Kuopio, Finland between 14th and 19th September 2021.
World’s Only Prize for Live Art
ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art is an extraordinary award that marks, celebrates and supports extraordinary artists. On Saturday 18th September 2021 we will award the Prize for the 8th time in Kuopio.
An international jury considers the nominees’ work from the past few years and experiences their recent works in the Shortlist LIVE! Programme together with other audiences.
The world’s only International Prize for Live Art is 30,000 euros, making it one of the richest cultural prizes in the arts. The winning artist receives a cash prize of 15,000 euros and the same amount in the form of a production grant for presenting a commissioned new work at the following year’s ANTI Festival.
The Prize is supported by the Saastamoinen Foundation, and the Shortlist LIVE! is supported by the Kone Foundation.
Shortlist LIVE! Programme 2021:
Florentina Holzinger (AT): Apollon
FRI 17.9.2021 / 19.00
@ KULTTUURIAREENA 44
In Apollon six women tackle the neoliberalist cult of the body with all their performative brilliance and vicious physical virtuosity. The performance limbos between the aesthetics of an occult fitness-studio, a cyborg-bullfight and neoclassical ballet.
Florentina Holzinger’s dance pieces are driven by the notion of identity, sexual and physical transgression. Drawing inspiration as much from Viennese Actionism, body art and bodybuilding as from classical ballet, cabaret and circus; she deconstructs, performance after performance, the very definition of femininity.
Narcissister (US): Narcissister Live(s)
FRI 17.9.2021 / 21.30
@ VR KONEPAJA
Narcissister Live(s) is an evening-length set consisting of video and live performance works from her repertoire. Covered by mask and merkin, Narcissister plays with the limits of burlesque, masquerade, and performance art as she uncovers her body and its potential to animate objecthood.
Narcissister is a Brooklyn-based artist and performer working at the intersection of contemporary dance, visual art, and activism. Her art practice covers a range of media including live performance, collage, sculpture, video, film, and experimental music. She has presented work worldwide at festivals, nightclubs, museums, and galleries.
Alex Baczynski-Jenkins (PL/UK): The tremble
SAT 18.9.2021 / TCB
@ KUOPIO CITY HALL
The tremble is the first episode of the work The tremble, the symptom, the swell and the hole together which unfolds over four episodes. The work enacts a choreographic mediation on the relationships between touch, intimacy, loss and collectivity. Each episode has its specific embodied vocabulary through which the performers navigate intimate and fragmentary exchanges reflecting on the edges of subjectivity, corporeality and relationality.
Artist and choreographer Alex Baczynski-Jenkins engages with queer affect, embodiment and relationality. Through gesture, collectivity, touch and sensuality, his practice unfolds structures and politics of desire.
keyon gaskin (US): its not a thing
SAT 18.9.2021 / TBC
@ KULTTUURIAREENA 44
keyon gaskin prefers not to contextualize with their credentials.
More information & Interview requests
Media photos: antifestival.com/en/news
Elisa Itkonen
elisa@antifestival.com
+358 50 305 2005