Tori Wrånes: GARDEN OF LEFTHAND

On April 21, Lilith Performance Studio premiers GARDEN OF LEFTHAND—a new large-scale performance by the Norwegian artist Tori Wrånes.

An over-dimensioned flesh colored bladder, a swelling jellyfish, or perhaps abnormal stomach contents. In a manner, typical for Wrånes, GARDEN OF LEFTHAND evades specific labels, and forces the spectator to accept that they don’t really know what they see or hear.  is forced to examine the standard, proposed by Wrånes, from the outside looking in, facing “the organ” while either standing, sitting or lying down on a raised landscape, which surrounds it. From this vantage, you experience the course of events on the inside and a group of being’s flowing activity, while your face becomes a tiny wart, a detail of flesh in the dreamlike, surreal, and at times brutal state, which Tori Wrånes provides us with in GARDEN OF LEFTHAND.

In her practice, Tori Wrånes aims to twist reality beyond norms and standards. Through tenderly anarchic gestures she makes visible human and inhuman behaviors. Wrånes emphasizes issues of exclusion and highlights practices that deviate from the prevailing norms that we all are responsible for establishing and maintaining.

In numerous earlier works, Wrånes has put herself, her co-actors and often the spectator in a position where physical resistance and obstacles distort and increase the experience. In her practice, she is in search of new potential qualities in that which is deemed difficult or inaccessible. Employing a great deal of humor and warmth, Wrånes disturbs our behavior as well as our patterns of movement and allows for an opening of our consciousness. 

Tori Wrånes is a vocalist and artist, who produces large-scale performances, videos and installations. Her use of sound, music and sculpture explores how both the body and surrounding space may be deformed by becoming parts in her own rituals and dreamlike constellations. Wrånes has a background in theatre, music and visual art. After having spent 11 years in a rock band, she enrolled at the art academy and immersed herself in performance art, focusing specifically on visual concerts. Since then, she’s gained increasing notoriety within contemporary art. 

Tori Wrånes (f. 1978 in Kristiansand, Norway; lives and works in Oslo). Solo exhibitions include: Mussel Tears (2022) Shulamit Nazarian Gallery, Los Angeles, HANDMADE ACOUSTICS (2018) Ujazdowski Castle for Contemporary Art in Warszawa; Hot Pocket (2017) Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo;  Ældgammel Baby / Ancient Baby,  (2017), Kunsthal Charlottenborg Denmark; FLUTE WARRIORS (2017), w/Red Comunitaria Trans, Kuirbog Festival, Bogotà, Colombia; DRASTIC PANTS (2016), Carl Freedman Gallery London.  Selected performances: LIPS DON´T CRY (2019), Garage, Moskva; NAAM YAI, (2018), Thailand Biennale, Krabi; SUB ADVENTURE; (2019) ILIOS, Harstad; STONE and SINGER (2014) commissioned by 19th Biennale of Sydney (2014); YES NIX (2013) commissioned by PERFORMA 13 New York; Colombo Art Biennale, Sri Lanka; Dhaka Art Seminars, Bangladesh; CCA Lagos, Nigeria; and The Eccentric for Sculpture Center, New York.

Tickets for GARDEN OF LEFTHAND. The audience is booked in at different times to avoid queues and crowds. Everyone is free to stay as long as they want until 9pm. To see the work in full, you need about 40 minutes.

Curators: Elin Lundgren & Petter Pettersson, Lilith Performance Studio

Lilith Performance Studio is a non-profit arts organization and an independent arena for visual art performance established 2007 by the artists and curators Elin Lundgren & Petter Pettersson. The Studio commissions and initiates new major visual art performances by inviting artists from around the world, some of whom have never worked live before. Since the inception 2007, Lilith Performance Studio has commissioned and produced over 60 major performances, and done several curatorial collaborations, guest appearances and art events and festivals, both internationally and in Sweden. As a production space and an arena for visual art performance, the studio is the first of its kind in the world.

More info here.