In Fictions of the Flesh, the character Syncopator embodies both past and future. She slides, floats and falls though space, like a Fata Morgana or tardigrade, monarch butterfly or the night train to Palmyra. She gives birth to a couple of tails behind some benches and sheds her fur between trees. She glides on railings and grows in pavement cracks. Slowly, her fingers become so heavy that she can no longer carry them. They snap silently whilst pulling her backwards into Big Freeze.

Snap.

Snap.

Snap.

In Fictions of the Flesh, Fiksdal, Floen and Slåttøy look at the idea of contemporaneity and how different contemporaneities can be conveyed through costume, dance and choreography. The artists draw from jazz dance as a physical archive and combine this with inspiration from speculative future fictions which describe expanded corporealities.

“To enlarge contemporaneity means to amplify the field of reciprocity between the principle of equality and the principle of the recognition of difference.” - Boaventura de Sosa Santos, Epistemologies of the South

Fictions of the Flesh is a new solo performance for public space created by choreographer Ingri Fiksdal, costume designer Fredrik Floen and performer and choreographer Mariama Fatou Kalley Slåttøy. Fictions of the Flesh draws from Mariama’s bodymind-archive as a trained jazz dancer, as well as speculations on extended corporealities inspired by global future fictions. The performance is the first in a series of works looking at the conceptual boundaries of contemporaneity in dance and choreography from a decolonial perspective.

“The futures we imagine reveal the biases of the present; it seems entirely possible that imagining different futures and temporalities might help us see, and do, the present differently” - Alison Kafer

Fictions of the Flesh is performed in spots that are already hangouts for locals such as squares, plazas, playgrounds, or other sites where people come to relax or socialize. The choreography will be adapted to the architecture and layout of a certain place, often consisting of things such as staircases, benches, trees, swings, slides, sculptures, sidewalk cafes and more. In Trondheim, the work will take place in the center of town.

This performance is part of Multiplié dance festival 2022 which is presented by DansiT.

About the artists:

Ingri Midgard Fiksdal (1982) is a choreographer based in Oslo, Norway. In 2019, she finished a PhD in artistic research at Oslo National Academy of the Arts titled Affective Choreographies. This research took shape as six performances and three books. Ingri’s work on affect has in recent years taken her into discourses on perspective and privilege. She is currently working on a number of projects addressing the intersection between the post-anthropocentric and the decolonial from a feminist perspective. Ingri is concerned with how practise and theory are entangled in her work in a way where neither is perceived as anterior to the other. Ingri’s work has in recent years been performed at Kunstenfestival in Brussels, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Santarcangelo festival, Beijing Contemporary Dance Festival, Sommerszene in Salzburg, Reykjavík Art Museum, brut-Wien, Teatro di Roma, Harbourfront Centre Toronto, Contemporary Art Center Cincinnati, BUDA Kortrijk, Tanzhaus NRW in Dusseldorf and Steirischer Herbst Festival in Graz, alongside extensive touring in Norway.

www.ingrifiksdal.com

Fredrik Floen (1988) is a Norwegian visual artist, costume and stage designer who presents his work in a range of different theatrical meetings. Fredrik graduated from Oslo Academy of the Arts spring 2017 with an MA in Fashion and Costume Design. Former education in Fashion and production design, theatre studies and a past as assistant in the company Vinge/Müller in Volksbühne, Berlin. As an independent artist, his work is centered on costume practice with a theatrical aesthetic in different collaborations and contexts. Fredrik has in the recent years worked with Nationaltheater Mannheim, Hotel Pro Forma, Otta Kulturhus, Palais de Tokyo, School of The Arts Institute Chicago, Munch Museet, Black Box Theater, Ibsenfestivalen, Teaterfestivalen I Fjaler, The Norwegian Opera, Scene: Bluss, Fruholmen Fyr, The Norwegian Opra (Trond Reinholdsen), Turteatern, Marie Nikazm Bakken & Ingri Fiksdal. His work has been exhibited at the Sullivan Galleries in Chicago and in Palais de Tokyo in the context of the Do Disturb festival and he is currently Artist in Residence at the new Munch Museum in Oslo.

www.friedrichfloen.com

Mariama Fatou Kalley Slåttøy (1992) is a freelance dance artist based in Oslo, Norway. She graduated from Oslo National Academy of the Arts/Faculty of Dance in 2014. Mariama works with movement within a wide range of expressions from dance performances of different natures to physical and interdisciplinary theatre and various film projects. She has worked with choreographers, directors and dance artists such as Jo Strømgren, Ingri Fiksdal and Fredrik Floen, Eline Arbo, Ole Martin Meland, Niels Windfeldt, Un-Magritt Nordseth and Jon Tombre. In the recent years Mariama has done a series of productions at Hålogaland Teater in Tromsø, and performed at venues such as The Norwegian National Opera House, Arctic Arts Festival, Det Norske Teatret, Showbox Festival/Black Box Theater, Dansens Hus and toured with Hålogaland Teater and Oslo Danse Ensemble/Riksteatret.

www.mariama.no