50s or Soft Despair, 2020

50s or SOFT DESPAIR, 2020
variable dimension, felt, pedestal

Photo by Serioja Bocsok

50s or Soft despair continues Héroïnes's endeavors, only this time it is based on postures of feminine silhouettes selected from the contemporary dance performances of artists* which pushed further the creative boundaries - either conceptually or by the way they used the movement and the body, or artists which have been forgotten, whose contribution is underrated.

50s or Soft despair is an installation about the biological and psychological thresholds of middle age, about decisive and introspective moments, but also about the reshaping of identity at different ages. In one version, the installation is based on a sculptural theatricality, in another version the characters are stacked on top of each other - a pile of skins, clothes, identities - a familiar domestic structure created by carelessly removing our clothes, while dropping many of the social masks we wear every day.

The installation was produced with the support of WASP Bucharest (Working Art Space and Production) and presented as a scenographic installation in the frame of Xplore Festival #15, 2020 and as a sculptural installation at Zina Gallery, Cluj, in 2021.

*Quoted artists: Mary Wigman, Meredith Monk, Lucinda Childs, Yvonne Rainer, Marie Chouinard, Mette Ingvartsen, Mette Edvardsen.