PROGRAM

Live Action 21 presents an eclectic and gender-balanced programme that embraces a coherent curatorial vision, reflecting an open aesthetic attitude that values conceptual depth, artistic integrity and formal diversity, contributing to the festival’s distinctive character.

Our curatorial focus is on performance art rooted in the tradition of the visual arts, with all its theoretical and historical implications. We understand performance not as theatre without a stage, but as a visual and conceptual practice whose genealogy can be traced from Paul Valéry’s notion of poïesis—art as the act of making—to Harold Rosenberg’s concept of Action Painting, and through the radical experiments of the Gutai group in 1950s Japan and Joseph Beuys’ expanded conception of art in the 1960s. Live Action belongs to this particular lineage of conceptual and experimental artistic practice, where action itself becomes both medium and artwork.

At the same time, our programming and production model is founded on a simple but powerful principle: cultural democracy. We believe that contemporary art should be accessible to everyone, regardless of social background, gender, economic circumstances or ethnicity. For this reason, since its inception, Live Action has insisted on presenting performance art directly in the public spaces of central Gothenburg through its outdoor programme, Common Ground, held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons (12:00–14:00). By bringing contemporary performance into the everyday life of the city, the festival seeks to engage audiences who might never otherwise encounter this form of artistic expression.

This commitment extends to our evening programme at 3:e Våningen (19:00–22:30), where admission remains free and audiences can experience four performances each evening in an intimate setting dedicated to experimental contemporary art.

Live Action 21 also continues its presentation of Immersion X, the pioneering exhibition of augmented reality performance holograms installed throughout central Gothenburg. Accessible on site via smartphones through www.immersionx.org, the project extends the festival into the urban landscape and explores new possibilities for experiencing performance art through emerging digital technologies.