Lina Hermsdorf: Being A Vertebrate

Lina Hermsdorf: Being A Vertebrate

4 September – 11 October 2020
Performance & Opening:
Thu, 3 September 7pm & Sat, 5 September 2 pm

In her process- and time-based practice, the artist and choreographer Lina Hermsdorf (*1985 in Hamburg, lives and works in London) creates narrative situations that focus on the body in its presence and absence. Working primarily with performance, installation and film, she examines the altered perception of life through technology and the relationship to natural optimization processes.

For her new performance and exhibition Being A Vertebrate Lina Hermsdorf collaborates with dancer Jessie Jing to reflect on the relationship between growth and stagnation. Conceived specifically for the space at Kunstverein Dortmund, the new work examines diapause, a state of suspended life, that allows certain animals to bridge extreme climate conditions by drastically cutting their energy levels and pausing their development. The artist raises the question of what links and separates us in our lifecycles as growing and decaying organisms, as vertebrates, as humans and as individuals.

The event is part of the anniversary program of Dortmunder U.

Special Thanks to Dario Valenzano, Max-Planck-Institut, Köln & SanLight GmbH, Bludenz, Österreich für die Unterstützung.

Kindly supported by: Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes NRW, NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste, Deutsche Pfandbriefbank München, 10 Jahre Dortmunder U, Hellweg – die Profibaumärkte sowie Kulturbüro der Stadt Dortmund.