Petra Bauer (SE)

°1970

Artist and filmmaker Petra Bauer explores our political, cultural and social traditions, often focusing on the role played by gender, ethnicity and class in our modern-day society. Bauer questions power structures – the powerful and the powerless – in ordinary everyday situations. She asks questions we prefer not to ask, let alone answer. She explores the medium of film as a place for tackling political and social issues. 

Petra Bauer & Marius Dybwad Brandrud

Choreography for the Giants (2013)

publication, video installation, sound

In this new work Petra Bauer looks at the procession known as the Mechelen Ommegang (or Cavalcade), a world heritage event which only takes place every twenty-five years. The last time was in 1988, since then society has undergone many changes. The artist concentrates on the production process of this edition of the Ommegang. Choreography for the Giants consists of a publication that traces that process with particular critical attention paid to the way the organizers have tried to represent the whole of Mechelen society in the Ommegang. Bauer is also presenting a video installation about the procession, made in collaboration with Marius Dybwad Brandrud.

Produced by Contour 2013 as part of the cooperation project with the biennials of Göteborg, Liverpool and Ljubljana (within the framework of the European Culture Programme 2007-2013).