A two-week journey undertaken by a couple of girls in a relationship who decided to bring their relationship to another level – not only of their life together, but also a level of art. The project assumes a temporary blurring of the boundary between art and reality – a permanent creative state and the production of a utopian reality, based on cultural stereotypes dominant in our society. The basic project involves a photographic cycle and a video recording documenting the process of its creation.
„It will be made in cooperation with photographers living in the cities we will be travelling to. We hitchhike, travelling light, with little luggage and two wedding gowns, recreating wedding photo shoots carried out in the cityscape before or right after a wedding: photo shoots that constitute visualizations of the dream constructed for girls, recreated with all the trappings of ideal nuptial iconography: the glamour & bombast & flowers & splendour & “being a princess for a day.” We will conduct one professional shared bridal photo shoot in each of the visited cities. The entire operation will be recorded by a cameraperson – these recordings will be used in the final videodocument. The preparation and execution of the shoots will be done in cooperation with local organizations and activists.
We are playing with the stereotype of bridal whiteness & the dress & the most important day in every girl’s life. We are playing with the word “utopian” – since many views and notions that used to be considered utopian (the end of racial segregation or gender equality, to name but two)
have ceased to be so thanks to grassroots-based activism. We are playing with the word “utopian”, since in spite of our acting out of bridal roles, we do not need the consent (of either lawmakers or society at large) to us taking on that role in order to be together, love and respect each other, and have great sex.
In this context our “projected fantasy of art” is not even the marriage act, but drawing from each other, completing each other and the shared courage to give up the comfortable and safe anonymity. This is why we do not want to speak only of problems and changes that are needed in our society, but also about love, about symbiosis, about being together which is full of affirmation and acceptance.”
LP | MT
translation: Nelly Strehlau
