Lemmings – A performative installation on female led movements and creative strategies of resistance

Application summary

This performance which takes place around and in relation to an installation, is inspired by the female led revolution in Iran known as Women Life Freedom. The movement which took over the streets of Iran, arose in reaction to the death of Mahsa Amini a 22-year old Iranian kurdish woman who was killed in Tehran on September 16th, 2022 by the Iranian regime’s religious morality police for inappropriate clothing. The movement of my performers are inspired by the bodies and movement of people in demonstrations -and other processes of residence, their agency, how they claim the street, and their right to public space. These movements are defined and designed by observation and study of hundreds of demonstrations and creative strategies of resistance using one’s body, across the world from Iran, Middle East, Indonesia, Eastern Europe and South America. It’s very important for me to present alternative narrations and perspectives to subjects such as feminism. I do see Women Life Freedom as the ultimate feminist revolution of the century, and I find it crucial to translate it for a European audience. The title refers to the 90's video game of the same name. The objective of the game is to guide a group of anthropomorphised lemmings through a number of obstacles to a designated exit. To save the required number of lemmings to win, one must determine how many lemmings to sacrifice and how to affect the behaviour of other lemmings, and to create a safe passage for the rest of them. This summarizes some of the strategies one has to plan in a demonstration. The work employs a sculptural special installation called as the central part of the set and all the movements of the performers happen on top and around the platform. This 7-meter-long platform that was originally designed and built for the exhibition of the Estonian Pavilion will be adjusted to serve as the set.