Rebecka Pershagen

 

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With a background as an actor, the tension of the boundaries between private and personal has always fascinated me, as I have explored in many self biographical pieces with focusing on monologues and writing. My approach and journey into performance art and the art world in general came through my desire to further tell a story to an audience in a more vulnerable, naked and boundless way, with occasional interaction with them - but on their premises.

 

I am drawn to the concept of time passing, by eg. exploring / depicting a feeling over a long period of time, which is why I exclusively create my long duration performance pieces to be performed for 2 - 5 hours. My set / scenography / costume is usually theatrically inspired as I want to create a specific environment / tableau, but I also create these visual frameworks to easier be able to go against them and revoke their conventional connotations and make them come to life in a new way.

 

What I mainly find liberating in my artistic creation, especially in performance art, is that I actively abstain from "entertaining an audience", which I felt was one of the main requirements of conventional performing arts throughout my training and previous professional life. I create pieces with performance and video that extend over a long time, that I preferably place in spaces with a constant flow of people rather than a sitting crowd.

 

I always aspire to create a choice for the audience to observe me for a shorter or longer period of time. Challenging myself physically and mentally (through monotonous, repetitive and low-key works), and in many ways also the audience, is one of my primary goals.