CIRCUS HEIN


Frac Centre

Atelier Calder

Open Space

Artists

Videos

Dates

Contact

Imprint

Kristoffer Akselbo

après-nous

ATWTP

Kenneth A. Balfelt

Nina Beier

Emilie Bergrem

Kaspar Bonnén

Cirque d`Enba de Lyon

Cocktail Designers

Søren Engsted

Fanfare les Talku` Freaks

Thilo Frank

Max Frey

Jeppe Hein

Institut d`Arts Visuels d`Orléans

BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group

Henrik Plenge Jakobsen

Finn Janning

Jacob Dahl Jürgensen

Annette Kelm

John Kørner

Jason Kraus

Claus Larsen

Let me show you the world

Mads Lindberg

Florian Neufeldt

Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen

Michael Sailstorfer

Tomas Saraceno

Tove Storch

Kristian Sverdrup

Koki Tanaka

Henrik Vibskov

Ulrik Weck

Jordan Wolfson

LILIBETH CUENCA RASMUSSEN

The CockSong / CockFight 2009
Video
8 min.
In CockSong, Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen combines elements from the documentary film and from the music video in order to create her own form of artistic expression. Scenes of a traditional cockfight in Manila are alternated with images of the artist in feathered costumes, prancing about and rapping to techno beats. Critically denouncing but with humor, the artist addresses themes such as identity, ritual, society and gender roles. The national sport of the Philippines serves here as an exemplary starting point for a study of group behavior with socio-cultural, individual and gender-specific factors. It is a commentary not only on the aggressive macho culture that is evident from bloody cockfighting but also on its cultural background. The sport was developed when the Philippines were part of Spain’s colonial empire, and many men tried to channel their aggression and sense of impotence through cockfights. The owner identifies with his rooster. It is tended and cared for, pumped up with drugs and spurs and trained to kill. It is a symbol of his masculinity and his courage. The artist, seductively feminine in her feathered dress, prancing about yet swaggering belligerently and rapping, can also be interpreted along the lines of the debate over gender. Because the lyrics are about the power and control of the man over the cock, about the ambiguous situation between pride and the desire to adopt the position of the other, the reference to the traditional allocation of roles and the subject of gender equality is obvious. Wrapped up in the pun of the English word cock (both a rooster and the male member), the song remains on a humorous, cheeky level.
In keeping with the theme of the circus, it focuses on the relationship between human beings and animals. We are shown the taming and mistreating animals as a pastime for people to inspire us to think.

Biography

* 1970 in Manila, Philippines
1996-2002 The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Copenhagen
Lives and works in Copenhagen


Selected exhibitions

2009
The Present doesn´t exist… Performa09/Sculpture Center, New York City
Once more with feeling, Tate Modern, London
re-act-feminism, Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Praxis: Art in Times of Uncertainty, Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece

2008
U–Turn, Kvadrianale, Copenhagen
In Transit, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
A Void, Renwick Gallery, New York City & Kirkhoff
Contemporary, Copenhagen

2007
Global Feminisms, Brooklyn Museum, New York City

2006
EgoShow, Solo, X-Room, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

2004
Human, Fucking Human, Lofoten International Art Festival,Norway

2003
De bortbjudna – Malmö Konstmuseum visits Rooseum, Sweden

2002
Fundamentalisms of The New Order, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen

2001
Ars 01, KIASMA, Helsinki

leer

The CockSong / CockFight