Dziewczyństwo and COVEN Berlin present: BEDTIME

Curatio: Zofia nierodzińska
Place: Galeria Miejska Arsenał, Poznań

Fragment from the curatorial text:

We revel to survive.

The bed is a virtual monument to dreaming presents; a space for germinating ambivalent pleasures; shelter, battlefield and (dis)comfort zone all at once. This is the command center of girlhood, a place where the need for social disobedience is being stimulated.
From September 7th to October 7th, we will organize a bedroom in the Arsenal. We send messages from the world of girls to the world of liquid concrete.

During the month-long situation at Arsenal Gallery, two shiftless, shamelessly awoken queer collectives, Girlhood and COVEN Berlin, will answer the following questions:
What are the new trends in young art? Geometrical patterns and expressive colors!; how to choose a medium for a figure; who won the competition “The Most Slender Painter under 15?”; shiny accessories – are they still in in post-internet aesthetics?; how to choose the right laptop for your complexion; a quiz for the most attractive code; what will boys come up with when the girl programs better than they do?; how to do a carnival performance; activist action: how to learn the art of origami.

Members of both collectives invite all who are willing to jump with them into a ten-foot bedspace. Aside from the opening, closing, and usual opening hours of the gallery, there will be three occasions to do so: the first will fall on September 8th (a Saturday), when the hosts and guides of these nocturnal adventures will become Girls from the Girlhood collective.

Part two will take place between September 22-23, and its instigators will be the Berlin magicians from the COVEN collective. Pioneers of queer romanticism will invite guests to take a walk on mental-metabolic routes with no visual safeguards to fall back on. This late summer evening will feature theatrically-inspired disses, nurturing self-care rituals, hair cuts, gossiping, make-up stories, Truth or Dare challenges, collective dreaming, karaoke, and even more karaoke.

The last night (September 29-30) belongs to everyone and will be led by both groups: there will be summaries and steeplechases, culminations and boring narrations, intervals, stations and torn relations.

(…)

We revel to survive

More on: https://arsenal.art.pl/en/exhibition/dziewczynstwo-coven-berlin-present-bedtime/

Translation: Marcin Turski

The first of six photos documenting the exhibition “Dziewczyństwo and COVEN Berlin present: BEDTIME” depicts the space just after the opening. There are many things around. On the left is a canopy bed made of pine slats, covered with pink and purple transparent fabrics and colourful lamp garlands. Behind the bed is a white tent with a video projection, three bright pink mattresses stacked on top of each other, a clothes rack, a table on which lie a lot of glasses, some flowers and two Coke bottles. To the right is a pink table with notebooks, pens and colourful markers on it. There are also colourful signs on the wall, for example about how to use the common space. The picture shows a white tent with a video projection inside. The tent is covered with artificial blonde hair, next to it on the left are two black tables, on the right a large black speaker on a tripod and a lamp like on a film set. On the wall behind the tent is a sign in Polish and English: We ravel/rebel to survive. The image shows the exhibition space from a wide perspective. In front, two dark blue mattresses lie on the floor. One of them is partly laid on a huge canopy bed, the other same bed stands just behind it filling almost the entire gallery space. Small Christmas tree lights hang from the ceiling. To the left stands a table with a bright pink tablecloth. To the right one can notice the windows, which are also the facade of the gallery. They are decorated with transparent foil in pastel colours. One of the canopy beds is pictured here. The garlands of lights are on. A person is lying on the bed. The person is wearing black sports shorts, black socks and a white t-shirt. S_he looks relaxed. The photo documents karaoke singing during one of the sleepovers prepared by the two collectives organising the exhibition. There are about ten people in pyjamas in bed. One of them sits in the middle and sings into a microphone, the others sing without any device. It is nighttime and only small garlands of lamps are lit. The whole thing looks cosy and cheerful. The photograph was taken at the opening of the exhibition. The artists are sitting on a couch wearing payams. One person is speaking into a microphone. The people who have come to the gallery are nicely dressed in summer clothes. There are a lot of people around. On the wall to the right is a large sign: Arsenal Municipal Gallery.