SU-EN
Stockholm, Sweden
"THE DAUGHTERS OF GOD DRIVE CHAIRS!"
(based on an idea by "The Sons of God" - Leif Elggren and Kent Tankred)
20 minutes, 9/09/2001atatPall Mall Club

by Victor Petrov
This is the second time that a Minsk audience has had an opportunity to see a butoh performance. This time, the concept was devised together with the well-known Swedish group "The Sons of God". The severe black costumes of Su-En and her female assistants blended well with the festival location, and the night club became just "style" and "decoration". In a butoh performance, an important part is played by the interior, since it is an integral part of butoh culture. However, one is often unable to change the place where a performance is to be given, and if it happens to be a night club, then it makes sense to incorporate aspects of its interior.

The dynamics and patterns of the dance gradually increase in their intensity, carrying the spectators away through the expression of the action, and chairs thrown upwards fall amicably onto the marble floor...

Nevertheless, performance art is conceptual, i.e. contextual art, and so after the butoh part of the performance, it found its continuation in the context of a particular place and specific events. As a result, it became clear that in order to manifest itself, art requires more than simple aesthetic categories; artists must also have the mental strength to be able to defend themselves and their art.