The Hysterical and Historical Annals: Archives Made Flesh
21 January – 4 February, 2023
Botkyrka konsthall’s archive
In Botkyrka Konsthall’s Archive, the Peruvian feminist artists collective Hysterix is presenting a processual space, based on the experiences of systematic erasure of their documentation, names, histories, sensibilities and bodies:
We make a parallel with the erasure of historical silencing of histories/hysterias that erupt the system. Not only data but also forms/methods of knowledge production have been erased. We are filling these absences/gaps. Taking ”History” as a starting point, we develop aesthetic strategies based on materials associated with precariousness, pollution, the ordinary, bad taste, junk, cheap, domestic, sick, dirty. We also question the academic archive as the only reliable source of knowledge.
These deletions and erasures are not accidental but a response to political interests related to power structures.
Hysterix was formed in Lima, Peru, in 2012 by female artists of Peruvian background with the intention of occupying spaces historically denied to women and non-normative bodies through criminalization and gender-based violence.
The collective focuses on interventions outside the white cube. Their focus is on public space where they stage down-to-earth performance acts, live paintings and murals. Hystrix’s methodology is based on treating the intervention as a ritual, where their collective presence and bodies constitute a constantly ongoing work. With the collective body, Hystrix takes over space and reconfigures artistic and organizational methods.
Las Anales histéricos e históricos: Archivos hecho carne
Este espacio procesual parte de las experiencias de la colectiva Hysterix con el borrado sistémico – de su documentación, nombres, historias, sensibilidades, cuerpos. Hacemos un paralelo con un borrado silenciamiento histórico de historias/histerias incómodas al sistema.
No solo se han borrado datos sino también formas/métodos de producción de conocimiento. Hemos tomado estas ausencias/huecos en “la historia” como puntos de partida para desarrollar estrategias estéticas en base a materiales asociados a precariedad, polución, lo corriente, el mal gusto, el deshecho, lo barato, lo doméstico, lo enfermo, lo sucio. También cuestionamos el archivo académico como única fuente de conocimiento fidedigno, y finalmente, estos borrados no son casuales sino que responden a intereses políticos relacionados al grupo de poder.
Hysterix son artistas en residencia en Residence Botkyrka en enero de 2023.
Thanks to: Hysterix & La Dekoloniala! and Apokaliptika productions. Supported by Nordisk Kulturfond and Konstnärsnämnden. The project is part of the Globus Opstart program. Residence Botkyrka is supported by Botkyrkabyggen.