Luigi Guerrieri: Flowers

EIN PROJEKT VON FUORI - VEREIN FÜR PERFORMATIVE KUNST

FLOWERS celebrates the absurdity and uselessness of the eternal pursuit of happiness.
FLOWERS questions the enfleshed cultural concept of wellbeing.
FLOWERS is about flowers.
FLOWERS is a political statement towards the capitalistic industry of happiness and wellbeing.
FLOWERS is an artistic and ethnographic experiment involving artists/experts form other fields.
FLOWERS creates a space to jump also without joy, to do and say stupid things, to be a flower.
FLOWERS questions the dictatorship of happiness and wellbeing.

Starting from the three sayings: “to jump for joy”, “to be grounded” and “to blossom like a flower”, the goal is to apply these expressions line for line, stretching to the paroxysm the desire to feel good. I jump, bounce, crawl on the floor and blossom excessively during the whole performance.

FLOWERS does not question the benefits of wellbeing, it questions the power of cultural and commercial mechanisms that lead to institutionalise concepts like wellbeing. We are talking about a vicious circle where economy, institutions, multinationals and cultural systems legitimise each other producing and reproducing discourses that reinforce the dictatorship of happiness.

The crucial point that we must not omit approaching these thematics is that wellbeing and happiness are emotional states, feelings. Institutionalising and commercialising a feeling, brought us to fearfully mix up concepts like roots, belonging, the self, self-made, richness, success, individualism. We are objectifying something that is highly subjective.

We are forgetting that the pursuit of happiness is sometimes a privilege in itself!

Let’s question these privileges form the scratch!

The creation process of the performance was supported by the collaboration with a Research Group formed by two architects, two performers, one florist, one musician and a visual artist gardener. We confronted ourself on the topic of wellbeing through the lens of our different expertises sharing, exchanging and discussing.

Eine Kooperation zwischen FUORI und WUK Performing Arts.