In Tension, Please! we take a deeper look at the practices of two prominent artists, Cecilia Bengolea and Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen. The exhibition focuses on their use of physicality and movement, where performance art and dance are essential.

The exhibition theme brings together two artists who apply similar methods and conceptual approaches but each with their own unique orientation, as illustrated by the works shown here. What they share is a focus on physicality and mobility. An exploration of powers that can transform from liquid to solid, and back. In these works, bodies are connected, sometimes forming new hybrid life forms.

Cecilia Bengolea consistently pursues the transient nature of fluidity and liquidity. In several of her works, both narrative and characters are in transformation. Cuenca Rasmussen instead hones in on issues of human social relations, such as nomadic life, gender and identity. Relationships are studied through both monumental metal sculptures and works where the artist’s body takes on different roles. The exhibition brings the works of these two artists together, revealing how their material characteristics relate to each other, and how different tempi shape multifaceted and interlinked perspectives. Tension, Please! offers a deeper and broader presentation of the practices of both artists and brings them together in a programme of videos that forms the hub of the exhibition.

The title, Tension, Please!, alludes to the constant friction, tension or movement that is the intrinsic core of their works. It is also, of course, a play on the phrase “attention, please”, asking us to focus entirely on the performance – or exhibition.

Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen Länk till annan webbplats. (f. 1970, Manila) is based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Cecilia Bengolea Länk till annan webbplats. (f. 1979, Buenos Aires) is based in Paris, France.