Mikołaj Sobczak with Lutzi Puppe Wutzi (2023)
What kind of advice can the past give to the present? Mikołaj Sobczak’s new performance for herbst cabaret provides a unique answer, reviving the 19th century with a life-size puppet of one of its most vivid figures: Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria, also known as Luzi Wuzi. It was an open secret that he preferred the company of men, sometimes appearing publicly in drag. Sobczak talks to the puppet about class struggles and queer rights then and now—a time when the repressive climate of bygone days is returning.
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Mikołaj Sobczak (1989, Poznań, Poland) is an artist working with video, painting, and ceramics, often including performative elements as well. In his work, Sobczak focuses on political issues and historical policy, emphasizing the perspective and life of marginalized subjects. He builds narratives and tracks down the reasons for current global and social issues. Recent exhibitions took place at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; MUDAM, Luxembourg; Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; and Museum Ludwig, Cologne. He lives in Warsaw and Amsterdam.
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Selin Davasse with At Your Service (2023)
Why is her glass empty but her schedule so full? Selin Davasse’s intimate performance for herbst cabaret confronts art world power relations. In a series of toasts, she explores the fluctuating tensions between guest and host. Glasses clink in the name of criticality, and strangers come together to drink to fairness, held hostage by the hostess and her wine-dark humor.
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Selin Davasse (1992, Ankara, Turkey) is an artist whose research-based performance practice repurposes disparate literary and performative techniques to envision and enact the ethics of alternative pasts, presents, and futures. Composed of narrative and sonic textures, her work condenses systems of thought into intimate feminine expressions and presents them in song or speech, often with playful and participatory layers that form hospitable relations with the audience. Recent performance contexts include Art Encounters Biennial, Timișoara (2023); Radicants, Paris (2023); and The Fairest, Berlin (2023). She lives in Berlin.