Performance

TAKING SPACE IS A FEMINIST ACT

On 28.06.2025, during 48 Stunden Neukölln, the gallery space will be activated by a performance by Nicola Kötterl and two other performers.
The performance takes place several times a day.
More info soon .

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, she examines the ideological charges of idealized body images. 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 linear. It was intended to embody power, superiority and strength and to impress and intimidate the population. With the same intention, Nazi 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 that continue to have an impact today. 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.