Scandals are events where fantasy and pleasure take centre stage, says Ligia Lewis. Around the question of who this pleasure is for, and at what cost, Lewis tests different scenarios in which scandals flourish. She weaves together historical, anecdotal, political and mythical narratives around the history of colonial slavery, using her own great-grandmother as a guide for resistance.

Tickets

Venue

Elverket, Linnégatan 69

Duration

70 minutes

7 Sep

19:00

8 Sep

19:00

Note! The performances are also part of the My WIld Flag Festival.

Ligia Lewis on A Plot / A Scandal:

A plot exposed, a foul deed enacted invites scandal. In the spirit of revolution or romantic musings, scandals provoke an imagining of the impossible. Utopian or mundane, how might scandal reveal what lies unwittingly close to our fantasies? And how does it expose where society places its limits? If life is a scandal waiting to be plotted, how do we position ourselves within its matrix? Immoral and lacking propriety, scandals are incidents where fantasy and pleasure take centre stage.

Guided by the questions of whom this pleasure is for and at what expense, Lewis's new plot explores the stage where scandals abound.

Weaving together historical, anecdotal, political, and mythical narratives - ranging from an interest in the Enlightenment thinker John Locke, Maria Olofa (Wolofa) in the slave revolt of Santo Domingo in 1521, Cuban artist and revolutionary Jose Aponte, and Lewis's great grandmother, a figure Lewis turns to within her plot as a guide of resistance - the choreographer constructs the poetics of refusal at the edges of
representation. A dance between affect and embodiment, seeing and being seen, A Plot/A Scandal is a scene in the making where the excitement for that which does not fit might find its place.

The work unfolds through the following parts:
Prelude
Plot 1 John Locke
Plot 2 Rebellion
Intermezzo: John Locke cleans up his mess
Plot 3: Story of Lolon / fuck up the plot
Outro: Repair ?

The performance is part of the festival My Wild Flag to be held on 7-9 September 2023.

MyWildFlag_logue
Image gallery A Plot A Scandal. Click on the images to enlarge.

Ligia Lewis

Ligia Lewis works as a choreographer and dancer. In her work, sonic and visual metaphors meet the body, materialising the enigmatic, the poetic, and the dissonant. Lewis's work continues to evoke the nuances of embodiment. Her work was presented in multiple venues across Europe and the US. She was managed and produced by HAU Hebbel am Ufer Theater from 2017 until 2021 and was a tanzhaus nrw factory artist from 2017 until 2019. She is the recipient of the Tabori Award in the category of Distinction, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants Award, and a Bessie Award for Outstanding Production.

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7 September

Opening party of the My Wild Flag festival with music by Rasuul in Elverket's foyer

8 September

Talk with Ligia Lewis, Karina Sarkissova and Pontus Pettersson in the Elverket foyer.