A day in the 21st Century

11.11.2023
6 PM -9 PM

Upper Ankyle @ Feelium
7 Kensington Mall
W8 4EB
London,UK

Soyeon Kim

Vickie Amiralis

Yui Yamamoto

Ruby Antonowicz-Behnan

Dj set by Wiktorka

An evening of performance, music, mingling and introspection.

“A Day in the 21st Century” is an event where 4 artists unite to present their latest insights and reflections on the complex world we inhabit: their agonies, expectations, reflections, deepest fears and brightest aspirations.

Soyeon Kim , “키나 de’ fence” (2021)

Soyeon kim, in her work 키나 de’ fence (2021), reflects on the creation of her safe place within the public space. Disguised and therefore free from any socially constructed identity, she tries to delimit her own identity borders, as a form of protection from stereotyped and given attributes.

However, she eventually ascertains the precariousness of her self-defence armour. Any event, even the simplest one, risks deteriorate her safe place’s boundaries with a domino effect. Hence, the artist focuses on the fragility and limits of identity.

Addressing the viewer, Soyeon puts a question mark on the responsibility we all have in the construction of others identity. How do we influence the idea that people want to have of themselves?

How much does our judgement affect the others? In this perspective, the artist, through colorful and playful objects, refers to childhood. Children, albeit free from any kind of social pressure, in their genuine innocence, are easily influenced and malleable in terms individual development.

Text by curator Federico Raffa

Website: www.kimsoyeon.com

Instagram: @zzoyony

Vickie Amiralis, “DISCO DANCE OR CRY” , (2023)

Vickie Amiralis is a British/Greek artist currently living and working in Buckinghamshire, U.K. Amiralis works predominantly in sculpture and media arts whilst also developing curatorial projects. Her work juxtaposes the natural and the industrial whilst investigating human relationships with materials and landscapes.

Works and research are influenced by personal experiences and seek to process the past and raise questions for the future. Amiralis has a background of curating and collaborating with artists and musicians on international projects and publications. In 2023 she launched an independent studio, A Dozen Figs, aiming to bring artists together through events and residencies. Since 2020, Amiralis has been part of the Global Advisory Board for charity In Place of War.

For “A Day in the 21st Century” Amiralis fuses, for the first time in public, her sculptural and poetry works in a provocative spoken word performance “DISCO DANCE OR CRY”. Through this work Amiralis processes personal experiences and thoughts whilst inviting audience participation.

Website: www.vickieamiralis.com

Instagram: @vickieamiralis

Yui Yamamoto, “Grief in Progress”

Grief in Progress is an audio visual performance reflecting the artist’s personal feelings on current society. Sourcing from YouTube and mixing the images and sound from the live streaming of Gaza, Israel, Ukraine and Russia, Yamamoto will compose the soundscape.

Yui Yamamoto is a Japanese artist whose practice includes live performance, installation and site-responsive work. Working with the body and actions, various sounds and rhythms, and daily and domesticated objects, Yamamoto explores social norms, cultural identity and human-centered philosophy. Yamamoto’s work often prompts the viewers to engage with the installation, inviting reflection on their sensory/spiritual experience.

Website: www.yuiyamamoto.com

Instagram: @ugly_society_lover

Wiktorka

London based digital artist, video-maker, performance & cyberspace enthusiast. She’s inspired by feelings of deepest fear, altered states of consciousness, and the uncomfortable realisation of our pending, self-curated extinction.
A member of DIGI.GXL, a digital collective of womxn intersex,trans folk & non-binary people - specialising in digital design, 3D & XR.

Website: deadwika.cargo.site

Instagram: @deadwika

Ruby Antonowicz-Behnan

In her practice, Antonowicz-Behnan uses sound-based performance to explore notions of memory, temporality, and the interplay of evocative objects with the senses and memory in ritual embodied acts.

For “A Day in the 21st Century”, the playback of a cassette tape recording of her late father is the starting point to explore the notion of the disembodied voice and how recorded media mediates absence by communicating across time. The piece looks at the duality of sensing presence and absence within grief rituals and the psychological connection the bereaved may have with the deceased. 

The performance includes extracts from the book ‘Personal Grief Rituals: Creating Unique Expressions of Loss and Meaningful Acts of Mourning in Clinical Or Private Settings’ by Paul M. Martin

Instagram: @rubyantonowiczbehnan