Choreographies of Power

Choreographies of Power is a new action created by Public Movement. It was commissioned and performed at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, as part of the public programs for the exhibition “But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa”

Public Movement invited visitors to participate in Choreographies of Power, a 30-minute procession through the Guggenheim’s collection galleries. As part of the procession, the performers enacted ceremonies, physical encounters, short speeches, and moments of violence, which activate modern constructs such as the museum and the nation-state, to shed light on current political trajectories. Public Movement performs elements from the Guggenheim’s history to explore the collection’s hidden political apparatus. Within this narrative paintings are activated as envoys, agents, and diplomats whose movements expose the museum’s public role and the power relations exercised while building a collection