Sonia Boyce (UK)

°1962

Sonia Boyce came to prominence in the early 1980s as a key figure in the burgeoning black British art-scene of that time - becoming one of the youngest artists of her generation to have her work purchased by the Tate Gallery, with paintings that spoke about racial identity and gender in Britain. Since the 1990s Boyce's practice has taken a more multi-media and collaborative turn. Art as a form of social interaction informs her practice by bringing people together to perform in improvised situations, asking them to consider the past and the present.

Move (2013)

video, sound, 11’33”

Move looks at two episodes in the recent history of the Swedish city of Göteborg: the underground nightclub scene in the Haga district during the 1980s and the developments of the anti-globalization protest in the summer of 2001. In her film Boyce sets out to examine the potential that places carry within them to stimulate or block collective action. To this end she invited a number of contemporary dancers to use improvization to express the history of the sites and their own views about the public debate that triggered the events that took place in the 80s. The performances are interrupted by an immersive soundtrack and images of the reconstructed nightclub. 

Produced by the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art as part of the cooperation project with the biennials of Liverpool, Ljubljana and Mechelen (within the framework of the European Culture Programme 2007-2013).