Site-specific live works will be shown in a former power station near Berlin this autumn as part of the Block Universe performance art festival. The commissioned performance pieces will be unveiled at the E-Werk Luckenwalde, a new contemporary art space, in September under the name Power Night; the 350 sq. m turbine hall site is owned and run by the non-profit Performance Electrics.
The festival programme will take place across London and Berlin for the first time in 2019, marking the fifth anniversary year of the festival. Artists due to appear in Berlin include the UK-born choreographer Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome, the sound and performance artist Rowdy SS, and Nina Beier of Denmark.
Artists participating this year in London include Liz Glynn, whose site-specific work was developed during her residency at Delfina Foundation in 2018, as part of the Performance as Process series. Alexandra Pirici (RO) will present Leaking Territories (2017) which was shown at Skupltur Projekte Münster in 2017. During the piece, six performers curl themselves into Body Collages, delivering statements on Brexit.
The E-Werk Luckenwalde Courtesy of E-Werk Luckenwalde
Other participants include Michael Portnoy, the London-based band Ravioli Me Away, the French artist Paul Maheke and the DJ Melika Ngombe Kolongo (Nkisi). Venues are to be confirmed.
“Block Universe’s 2019 curatorial theme and expanded programme explores the concept of internal and external ‘world-making’ by looking at the diverse environments we create for ourselves to exist within, whether those be mental, physical or virtual spaces,” a project statement says. Block Universe was founded in London in 2015 by the independent curator Louise O’Kelly.
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