“Permanent Collection is a collection of movement-based works that questions who and what gets a place in museum collections. The work examines the construction of the new museum and the invisible stories of the international workers who built it; bodies who in his view are otherwise not represented or celebrated at the museum. Permanent Collection considers the history of workers’ rights by incorporating the international anti-fascist anthem ‘Bella Ciao’, originally sung by female Italian seasonal workers. The song invokes a legacy of resistance, defiance and queerness. The ongoing action explores ways in which histories of solidarity can become a part of a new, movement-based permanent collection at MUNCH.

Permanent Collection will be performed simultaneously at Sala Omnia in București and at London Pub in Oslo. In this way, Pelmuş creates a form of collective experience across time and place. Sala Omnia and London pub are both important sites of queer history: ‘London’ is Oslo’s oldest gay bar and the majestic decaying hall of Sala Omnia was where the decriminalization of homosexuality in Romania was announced in 2001.”

from munchmuseet.no

Concept: Manuel Pelmuș

Performers: Ingunn Rimestad, Jens Trinidad, Beniamin Boar, Elizabeth Ward, Mihai Mihalcea, Jack Hauser, and Anton Skanning Thomsen.

Photographer: Julie Hrnčířová