FYTA

Alvorada Dourada

@Various Locations [Jul 2013]

In this collaboration with performer Pedro De Senna we opened up a discussion around the rise of the greek far right, while at the same time thematised the fetishisation of the greek language as an integral piece of nationalistic discourse. In a controversial move aiming at denaturalising the position of the greek language, we introduce a Brazilian neo-Nazi, who – in order to refine his extreme-right-identity – decided to learn greek. It is a responsibility of every great neo-Nazi, the video tells us, to be fluent in greek.

The first steps in the new language are made through learning racist slogans and then by singing folk-pop songs. The boundaries between every-day greek culture and its alleged fascist diversion blur. Greek language through its metaphorical and metonymic slides oscillates between innocent artistic expression to racial hatred and back again.

This work was to be horrifyingly prophetic for Brazilian politics, as it anticipated the rise of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. Pedro De Senna has since produced the sequel to this performance, titled Aurora Dourada, which he presented in 2018 at our festival “The Garden of Dystopian Pleasures”.

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