It is always personally uncomfortable to be stuck in a stereotype and to be exposed in the perpetuation of the clichés about the masculine and feminine. But it can also be scary when these clichés and sterotypes are challenged – because who are we then? Samira Elagoz examines the games and liberty of the sexes both from the outside and from the inside in their transromance ‘seek bromance’.

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

Seek Bromance is a trans romance at the end of the world somewhere between insta-reality and sci-fi dystopia. It shows a relationship between two transmasculines who met during the beginning of the pandemic, who both have a history of performing highly feminine characters but who have very different attitudes as to what masculinity can be. The images that Samira Elagoz captures with his collaborator, Brazilian artist Cade Moga, document their relationship, from when they first met to their final breakup. But they also document Elagoz’s long farewell to his femme identity. A painfully beautiful, deserted world, as if a virus had wiped everything out, and they could only be infected by each other. With just a car, some cash, and a supply of testosterone, they expose the integral dynamics of masculinity and femininity.

Samira Elagoz dedicated years to filming and researching cis men when still a female artist. While his previous works explored cis-men and masculinity in its different forms from an outside position when still identifying as a woman, his latest work, Seek Bromance (2021), changes the vantage point as Elagoz captured his own transition.

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ABOUT SAMIRA ELAGOZ (FIN)

Samira Elagoz is a Finnish/Egyptian artist and filmmaker. He has toured in various international film, visual art, and performance contexts, and won several awards, the latest being the Silver Lion at Venice Biennale Teatro in 2022. Elagoz has dedicated his career to the discourse on gender, sexual violence, and its aftermath, the male gaze, digital romanticism, and intimate encounters. Educated in performative arts, he incorporates aspects of this medium with video and film, creating his unique brand of “docu-fiction”. The most indicative parts of his filming are that he doesn’t use performers and all subjects in his works are men. Elagoz always puts himself inside his films as a vérité-esque observer who is also being observed. He has been a comrade, a lover, a confidant, and a sidekick.

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MANAGING DISCOMFORT PERFORMANCEFESTIVAL

In the spring of 2024, Toaster and Live Art Denmark present the performance festival MANAGING DISCOMFORT, which includes a number of Danish and international artists whose works have the common denominator that they all deal with discomfort, but process it with care and humor.

The festival stretches over seven weeks and each week two new performances are presented, which are staged as a double-bill at Husets Teater. This means that one ticket gives access to both performances, which are separated by a short break.