Small Acts Of Violence
Solo Show, 2023, at argos centre for audiovisual arts 6 September — 23 December 2023
C0N10UR and argos present Small Acts of Violence. You’re invited to walk through a low landscape of broken ceramics vases, moldy collages and brick walls. Wait in the seating area for a caring guide to welcome you into a fabric cocoon, and experience the artist Aay Liparoto’s immersive cinematic Virtual Reality work at the heart of this exhibition.
Do you choose to stay or will you leave? In this exhibition, you cannot just watch passively. You choose the loving family situations you gaze on, or turn it away from. Small Acts of Violence makes you physically feel how the boundaries constantly shift between safe and unsafe, between love and violence. It’s surreal, recognizable, and elusive at the same time. You enter a loving, volatile universe. Stories of intimate violence are not shunned; instead motivations are explored and unpacked. You’re invited to reflect on your own behaviors and assert your own boundaries. On your path in this sensuous, enticing world, you’re surrounded by soft fabrics and sharp edges.
Afterwards, you’ll be cared for by the guide, as you’re invited to reflect on your experience in the seating area. Listen to the story your body is telling you.
Interview: https://archief.glean.art/artikels/in-conversation-with-aay-liparoto
For exhibition and installation inquires please email info(at)aliparoto.com
Small Acts of Violence is proudly produced by argos centre for audiovisual arts, co-produced by CON10UR, V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media (NL) and supported by Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), the Flemish Government and VGC. Thanks to Morpho VZW, Workspacebrussels, Kunstenwerkplaats & Kunstacademie Anderlecht.
Small Acts Of Violence
Cinematic Virtual Reality Installation, 2023, Produced by argos centre for audiovisual arts
25 mins, Colour, English spoken, Dutch subtitles
Exhibition Opening Small Acts Of Violence, argos centre for audiovisual arts , 6 September — 23 December 2023,
We are all in need of love and care. But what happens when those who love and care for us are also physically or verbally violent? What happens when we are the violent ones? Out of this, how can you evolve a sense of safety?
Small Acts of Violence is a surreal cinematic 360° experience concerning the entanglement of love and non-consensual physical violence and self-harm in intimate/ family relationships. The work is built from testimonies of women, non-binary, non- cis male perpetrators of domestic violence from Belgium and the United Kingdom, alongside repetitive, intimate performances of a fictional family. The experience seeks to expand our conception of domestic violence as the fragmented narratives traverse intergenerational trauma, sexuality, fear and shame beyond simplistic assumptions of the victim and perpetrator binary. The experience itself is fucking beautiful, gross, sexual, rancid and tender, asking: What are the actions we take in the name of love? What violence do we, in hindsight, blame on love?
For exhibition and installation inquires please email info(at)aliparoto.com
Writer & director : AAY LIPAROTO produced by : ARGOS CENTRE OF AUDIOVISUAL ARTS co-production C0N10UR AND V2_ LAB FOR THE UNSTABLE MEDIA ROTTERDAM supported by Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF)
executive producers : REBECCA JANE ARTHUR, DUŠICA DRAŽIĆ, PHOEBE ROBERTS, AAY LIPAROTO, JULIA WIELGUS
Featuring: Matilda Cobanli, Marie Diaby, Jihan Imago, Kaori Ishiguro, Hazel Lam, Charlotte Nagel, Lucia Palladino Voiceover: Conway McDermott
Assistant to the director: Suzanne Cleerdin Music by: LUCIJA GREGOV Sound designer: Kwinten Van Laethem
Costume Designer: Sofie Durnez 3D Illustration Designer - Loulou João. XR studio - Poolpio
