Fears & Affections - el dia que me enamoré de las bichas is an experience of deceleration. An invitation to sensually overcome one's own disgust. A dance between shivers, tenderness and excitement. It all began with a fascination for an insect: the cockroach. The vermin par excellence. The cockroach is said to have supernatural resilience. We associate the armored animal with dirt, lack of hygiene and disease. This is exactly where Argentinian artist Victoria Papagni and Swiss artist Tobibi Bienz come in. What is behind the disgust barrier? What do we find when we approach the vermin? Let us anticipate this: Tenderness and arousal play a role.
The artists have been living with cockroaches for five years and have dedicated themselves to researching with and about the animals. Central to this is the confrontation with our own bodies, with the disgust we feel towards our own animal existence. The punishing gaze of a highly polished efficiency society that characterizes our bodies as deficient organisms and thus makes us dependent on the pursuit of the normative imperative. What kind of relationship can develop between humans and cockroaches? Tobibi Bienz and Victoria Papagni engage in an encounter with the insects and transcend boundaries in the process. The human body is abstracted and merges with the insect. In the process, the cockroach is transformed from vermin into a tender companion that supports the return to one's own physical being, and further into a fetish. Or does the insect transform us?
Disgust and arousal are both multiple reactions of the limbic system in the brain. In addition to hormonally induced appetite behavior, visual, acoustic, olfactory, tactile and haptic key stimuli as well as associative mental links contribute to triggering sexual arousal in humans. Every touch can trigger arousal. Can we have sex with a cockroach?
Fears & Affections - el dia que me enamoré de las bichas is an installation made of videos, 3D Sculptures and a durational performance with live sound. An intimate (borderline) experience. Together with six performers from Buenos Aires and a handful of cockroaches, Victoria Papagni & Tobibi Bienz invite the audience to engage in unusual encounters.
*bichas means bug / vermin. It started being a negative term (an insult) for queer people and now queer community has reappropriated it as a self-designation to affirm their identity in Southamerica.
12./ 13./ 14. April
Performance & open practices with a lovesong from Urska Preis / rouge.ah
18./ 19./ 20. April
Performance & open practices with a lovesong from Violeta Garcia
20. April
Love Letter to a cockroach Reading
Fears & Affections - el dia que me enamoré de las bichas is an experience of deceleration. An invitation to sensually overcome one's own disgust. A dance between shivers, tenderness and excitement. It all began with a fascination for an insect: the cockroach. The vermin par excellence. The cockroach is said to have supernatural resilience. We associate the armored animal with dirt, lack of hygiene and disease. This is exactly where Argentinian artist Victoria Papagni and Swiss artist Tobibi Bienz come in. What is behind the disgust barrier? What do we find when we approach the vermin? Let us anticipate this: Tenderness and arousal play a role.
The artists have been living with cockroaches for five years and have dedicated themselves to researching with and about the animals. Central to this is the confrontation with our own bodies, with the disgust we feel towards our own animal existence. The punishing gaze of a highly polished efficiency society that characterizes our bodies as deficient organisms and thus makes us dependent on the pursuit of the normative imperative. What kind of relationship can develop between humans and cockroaches? Tobibi Bienz and Victoria Papagni engage in an encounter with the insects and transcend boundaries in the process. The human body is abstracted and merges with the insect. In the process, the cockroach is transformed from vermin into a tender companion that supports the return to one's own physical being, and further into a fetish. Or does the insect transform us?
Disgust and arousal are both multiple reactions of the limbic system in the brain. In addition to hormonally induced appetite behavior, visual, acoustic, olfactory, tactile and haptic key stimuli as well as associative mental links contribute to triggering sexual arousal in humans. Every touch can trigger arousal. Can we have sex with a cockroach?
Fears & Affections - el dia que me enamoré de las bichas is an installation made of videos, 3D Sculptures and a durational performance with live sound. An intimate (borderline) experience. Together with six performers from Buenos Aires and a handful of cockroaches, Victoria Papagni & Tobibi Bienz invite the audience to engage in unusual encounters.
*bichas means bug / vermin. It started being a negative term (an insult) for queer people and now queer community has reappropriated it as a self-designation to affirm their identity in Southamerica.
12./ 13./ 14. April
Performance & open practices with a lovesong from Urska Preis / rouge.ah
18./ 19./ 20. April
Performance & open practices with a lovesong from Violeta Garcia
20. April
Love Letter to a cockroach Reading
loud music
| Artistic direction | Victoria Papagni & Tobibi Bienz |
| Co-choreography, performance & collaboration | Kakerlaken (argentinische Waldschaben) |
| Performance from and with | Quillen Mut, Dana Ferrari, Patricio Ruiz, Corina Lagos, Tobibi Bienz, Demo Santi and Victoria Papagni |
| Lovesong to a Cockroach | Aylu (10.März), rouge.ah Urška Preis (12. & 13. & 14. April), Violetta Garcia (18. & 19. & 20. April) |
| 3D Sculptures Design | Victoria Papagni |
| 3D sculpture realisation | Mario Astutti |
| Shoe Design Kollaboration | Deseo Zapatos |
| Mushi Parasites | Kami Koni |
| Scenography | Ricas Estudio |
| Nail Art | Ivana Milenkovic (#hotmailhotnail) Hechiceras Spa |
| Camera | Tim Wettstein, Mauricio Asial, Luciano Demarco |
| Sounddesign | Antonella Criscione |
| Music | Aylu Yoto |
| Colourgrading | Humberto Mundim |
| Mountain guide & safety | Mischu Wirth |
| Make Up | Juan F Aguilar, Jean-Vera Bourgignon |
| Video Production Assistance | Marisa Eugenia Rossini, Dama Seta, Tomas |
| Collaboration Entomology | Prof. Dr. Monica Iglesias & Universidad de Buenos Aires, Juan C. Stazzo & Fundation Miguel Lillo |
| Mentorships & curatorial support | Paula Baro, Ossias Yanov, Marina Quesada |
| Production management Switzerland | Daniela Guse |
| Production management Argentina | Marina Quesada |
| Technical Management Switzerland | Robert Meyer |
| Production Switzerland | Pascal Etzensperger |
| … |
| In co-production with | Gessnerallee Zürich, Proa21, LODO Platoforma |
| Residencies & Collaborations | nos.envera, SKK Residency Genua Stadt Zürich, ProHelvetia South America, Atelier Mondial Basel, Residencia La Rural, CheLa |
| Financial support | Proteatro Ciudad de Buenos Aires, City of Zurich, ProHelvetia, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, SIS - Schweizerische Interpretenstiftung |
