Nikima Jagudajev. Basically

Basically is an ongoing live project. It utilizes the exhibition space as a hybrid production space and playground; a context to practice and perform within. Basically is structured as a choreographic game in which four performers hold the rules of the game constant, incorporating visitors in visible and invisible ways. The work is governed by the formal rules as well as by the subjective interpretations that occur in interactions with and between the participating artists and visitors. The creation and re-creation of the environment is central in Basically. Each presentation is one moment in a long-term long-form megawork. Visitors are invited to experience how the works’ characters write the world of Basically into existence – and to become a part of this open-world, role playing game.

Jagudajev developed ‘re-schooling’ – a prefigurative practice inspired by playful ways students subvert the educational system. Some of the most creative and heartfelt acts of our early education, like self-organized play, flirting, or passing notes, were extra-curricular yet located within the institution. In Basically, the exhibition space as architecture and institution, contains this world in which other things are happening: eating and sharing conversations, making clothes and music, and surreptitiously playing a game.

A very important aspect of Basically is the continuous, ever-evolving nature of it. Every new element, such as the city and venue in which it is taking place, the team—their interests and skill, what is installed in the space, it all adds to and simultaneously remakes the constellation. The visitors also become a part of this expanding and contracting ecosystem which means that they experience different aspects of the work depending on when they arrive in the space.

Basically proposes something messy and accessible that envelopes the visitor, something uncontrollable and spontaneous that is open to contamination. With choreography Jagudajev offers another way of orienting ourselves, a different way of relating to art, not as something that we are separate from but as an integrative, prefigurative practice that offers contamination through unexpected encounters.

The Class of ’23
Concept, Direction & Choreography Nikima Jagudajev
Musical Collaboration and Technical Direction Jordan Balaber & Lester St. Louis Dramaturgy Louise Trueheart
With Matti Aikio (video, movement), Samuel Baidoo (dance, textile, light), Jordan Balaber (music, movement), Matilda Cobanli (dance, elixirs) Zoë Field (photography), Yoh Morishita (dance, music), Maria Muehombo (MIMI) (music, movement) Salomon Leonard Poutsma (music, movement), Laura Stellacci (textile design, dance), Lester St. Louis (music, movement), Amina Szecsödy (music, dance), Camilla Schielin (dance, music), Louise Trueheart (dance)
Musical Contribution Amina Szecsödy, June Jenkins
Graphic Design Laurel Atwell, Zöe Field
Powder Deck Contribution Ayomoy Arrono, Laurel Atwell, Sanne Dodier, Nina Emge, Olivia Erlanger, Che Go Eun, Zoë Field, Polina Filipova, Padyn Humble, Melanie Matthieu, Abigail McNamara, Saye Oyama, Salomon Leonard Poutsma, Ra Tack, nick von kleist (nvk), Maïra Villena, Petra Webb, Amalia Wiatr Lewis
Mix and Master Chris Pawlusek
Production Hiros
Homemade Ice Tea by Burger Beisl Brutal
Residencies Decoratelier, kunstenfestivaldesarts2021, workspacebrussels, Frankfurt LAB, Im_Flieger
Partners Accelerator, Dansenshus, Bergen Kunsthall, WIELS, Dhaka Art Summit, Oktoberdans, BIT Teatergarasjen, Shedhalle Zürich, KAAP, de Brakke Grond
With Support from Bundesministerium Kunst, Kultur, öffentlicher Dienst und Sport, Vlaamse Gemeenschap, C-Takt, Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art, Re-imagine Europe, Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie, IASPIS

Live Exhibition on Level 4
Duration: August 30 to October 27, 2024
Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm

October 17: 4 to 10 pm