Sharing is caring, they say. Do they really mean it? When it comes to the economics of desire, comfort zone, well-being, and mindfulness, how can we extend the limits of ourselves, ego-centric thinking, and self-centered perspectives?
Sunny Pfalzer’s video piece I know what to do, based on collaborative performative work with Lau Lukkarila and Slim Soledad, with music by Marshall Vincent, could be our conversation piece. Quoting a key sentence from their statement, it’s clear these artists know what they’re doing and are truly interested in contributing to people’s lives with goodwill: „Vibing is a structural matter, and repetition can be brutal.“
As soft sculptures and spatial installation, including a few other referential elements, Sunny Pfalzer’s Stretch Sculptures ground their guests, visitors, and audiences with a modest, generous, and consistent approach to open space, inviting discussion about our connections, collective well-being, and the greater good. Different exhibition settings feature variations of this body of work including the video work as the central piece.
Sunny Pfalzer, one of Berlin’s most engaged and prolific artists, investigates collective forms of performative research, performance, and ways to apply their nuances, forms, and methods to our lives. Their practice, rooted in bodily expression, collaboration, and protest methodologies, inspires colleagues, friends, and people from other disciplines to understand gatherings, collectivity, and solidarity as forms of resistance and standing together. The video work creates an intimate mental space with a voiceover inviting us to exercise how we can do it better and together. A Plattenbau in the background, a plaid shirt deformed through feminist gestures and mimicry, and the soundtrack designed for the piece are all part of a non-binary, queer and feminist public intervention.
Most of us might think this sort of sincerity doesn’t exist since Queen’s MTV hit „I Want to Break Free“ with the late Freddie Mercury’s drag appearance or, much later, Spice Girls‘ „Wannabe,“ materializing the importance of syncing before the internet took all our attention span and cognitive energy. In Sunny Pfalzer’s world, viewers are invited to engage physically with the sculptures, transforming the installation into a space of rest, play, and connection. At the heart of Pfalzer’s practice are friendship and ethical collaboration, making the installation a lived, shared experience.
Like Sunny’s other works, this video within a specific installation offers a unique perspective on conviviality and collectivity, weaving together a net of glocal beats. Sunny Pfalzer’s work not only challenges traditional notions of power but also extends the visibility of queer gestures, by creating spaces for flamboyant mimics and smart flirting gestures. Through stretching our bodies together, and taking care of each other, Sunny Pfalzer successfully proves that soft power is the real power.
– Misal Adnan Yıldız
Sunny Pfalzer works with performance, language and poetry, textile and movement. Sunny is a Surfer Boy and Go-Go-Girl. Whether in the exhibition space or on stage, Sunny’s practice is always bodily and felt. Fundamental to Sunny are questions about collaborative work processes and friendship. Sunny’s recent work presentations include KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin, SAIC Chicago, Gulbenkian Lisbon and Shedhalle Zurich. Sunny is currently a guest professor for performance practices at the HSLU Luzern.
Performer: Sunny Pfalzer with Lau Lukkarila and Slim Soleded
Music: Marshall Vincent
Camera and editing: Laura Nitsch
