Göksu Kunak

Various Others | Munich, Germany

SAHA supports Stiftung Federkiel for Göksu Kunak's new performance Attention, which is presented at Various Others festival on 8 - 18 May 2025.

The performance "ATTENTION" is an artistic reflection on the reshaping and optimization of the body as well as the artificiality and fascination of this self-determined act. It is articulated as a 45-minute live exhibition in which four performers (dancers, bodybuilders) pose as kinetic sculptures and perform various choreographed actions in response to Kunak's spoken instructions. "ATTENTION" is a hyper-assemblage that reveals an archive of postures. It combines choreographed sequences of pole dancing, bodybuilding, femme go-go dancing, climbing sculptures and a series of live sculptures.

The idea for a live exhibition was inspired by the performance festival and symposium 'Articulate Muscle: The Male Body in Art' at the Whitney Museum (1976), where prominent bodybuilders – including Arnold Schwarzenegger – posed with their trained bodies on rotating turntables. In “ATTENTION”, innovative moving stage elements such as a scissor lift, a dance pole and a car underline the all-over display, which is comparable to a Fluxus happening. A unique interweaving of sub- and intercultural quotes is created, which manifests itself in a contemporary club and fitness aesthetic.

Göksu Kunak (Ankara, 1985)

is an artist, researcher and writer based in Berlin. Kunak’s interest lies in especially chronopolitics and hybrid texts that deal with the performative lingo(s) of contemporary lifestyles as well as non-Western/unorthodox dramaturgies. As a non-native English writer, their texts play with multilingualism and syntax. Influenced by Arabesk culture and late modernities, Kunak imagines new situations out of real encounters that point out the problematics of hetero-patriarchal structures. Orientalism, self- Orientalization (the perception of the 'Eastern', and how the Eastern sees themselves through this construction), as well as camouflage, self-censorship and science fiction are other interests of Kunak.

About Stiftung Federkiel

Federkiel builds on the foundation of the same name founded by Tina and Karsten Schmitz in Berlin in 2000. The purpose of this foundation was to support the voices of all artistic and cultural forms of expression that arose from contemporary circumstances. Today Federkiel works at the intersection of arts and culture, education, ecology and gustatory pleasure.

About Various Others

VARIOUS OTHERS (VO) is the international "format” of the Munich art scene. The city's key players―galleries, artist-run spaces and institutions—welcome everybody to discover Munich's vibrant and diverse art venues. In collaboration with a changing array of international partners, we present a contemporary art festival set against the unique background of the Bavarian capital. VO not only marks the beginning of the art season in Munich but has also established itself as a staple in the international art calendar.