ROCKELMANN& is pleased to announce our collaboration with multidisciplinary performance artist Carl Olof Berg. For the month of June, Berg will be based in Berlin providing the service of home visit performances, one variation of three will be selected by the patron, and the only price is a cup of coffee. From May 1st, 2017 patrons may book appointments directly with the artist by calling 0046 769 454444. The artist will also be available for drop in bookings during normal gallery hours. Alongside his performances, Berg has created a corresponding installation of graphics and photos, all of which call into question the status of the male body and the idea of physical perfection.

Berg’s work and his practice as a performer deal with the intersection of masculinity and prestige. He utilizes his body as his method, material and ethos while taking into consideration his personal physical histories as a trained dancer. His work seeks to answer various questions regarding bodily practices and the construction of male prestige, often asking just how and at what point are the processes that make a man prestigious destabilized? Spectators as an audience are always at the center of his practice, the effects of the audience’s gaze upon his body while performing is an integral part of Berg’s research and practice. The execution of his research takes the form of traditional theater contexts or in the private home sphere, where you can book his socially masculine coded body along with three different performances using the structures of a library.

Berg’s method involves applying his body to readymade materials and the utilization of established recreational practices. One strong example is his use of historically female bodily practices like the movement principles of iconic American dancer Isadora Duncan and the fitness and weightloss programme recorded by Birgitta, Princess of Sweden, in 1967.
The practice that Berg has developed intersects between the construction of gender identities, gender normalities, queer activism and feminist theory. His style of performance derives from his past experiences working as a choreographer in his native Sweden, using aesthetics and bodily practices from traditional and contemporary dance, theatre, opera and fine arts.