HORDE (2021)

HORDE is a new performance by choreographers Ingri Fiksdal and Solveig Styve Holte in collaboration with costume designers Elnaz and Mahtab Gargari, and composer Rohey Taalah. HORDE will premiere October 23rd and 24th 2021 as part of CODA Oslo International Dance festival and the opening of the new MUNCH in Bjørvika Oslo, and further be performed in both public space and museums.

The making of HORDE takes shape as a paid summer job for 8 girls between 15-18 years old recruited from county Gamle Oslo. This is an area of town which is known for its multiplicity of different cultures, and where working opportunities for young women are sparse. The summer job runs for 4 weeks from June through August and culminates in a series of public performances.

HORDE is a choreographic work that both through practical organization as well as artistic expression thematizes who can access art and artistic work, through the practise and performance of a complex and powerful artistic community. Our initiative is motivated by a common interest for a larger diversity within all parts of the professional art field. We have been engaged in discussions about who become artists and what artistic work is. At the moment, there is an increased awareness of representation of gender, sexual orientation and cultural background within the whole field of art and culture. At the same time, we see a major dominance of white, middleclass-kids in all art education. We are interested in who can imagine themselves as artists in the future and who access professional art today.

HORDE will both take shape as a significant choreographic work, as well as being a summer job. The project will give the young, performing participants salaries according to union rates, competence, experience and a network that will strengthen their knowledge of contemporary art today and stimulate talent and eagerness to potentially orientate themselves towards art as a profession.