
Mirror mirror, here I stand. Who is the fairest in the land?
This is an attempt to present our vision of queer future. We draw inspirations from two political artworks: Manifesto Antropófago, a literary piece written by Oswald de Andrade and The Kingdom of Darkness Is Surrendered, a protest artwork by Civil Sector of the Maidan. In this performance, we want a queer future that does not place the dominant power as the centre of cultural knowledge and reference. As what is queer today will not be queer tomorrow, a queer future must constantly re-invent itself through new strategies of resistance and production of knowledge. It is one where we occupy the space that is rightfully ours as humans, in all our diversity and colours. Here the mirror serves as both a symbol of our resistance – where we hold the mirror up to power, challenging its legitimacy and authority over knowledge – and a call to self-awakening and to see that we too hold knowledge.
The performance was commissioned for ‘Manifestos for Queer Futures’ as part of the festival ‘The present is not enough – Performing Queer Histories and Futures’
Premiere: 22nd June 2019 at Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin)
Artistic team
Concept and performance : Ming Poon and Iury Trojaborg