To my Ancestors - Trans-Formations in Space and Time

To My Ancestors. Trans-Formations in Time and Space is a performance for a non-binary person and a projector. The performance shines a light on European history from the perspective of trans people and ventures a quest for trans ancestry in Europe. It seems as if the history of trans people only begins with the age of Enlightenment and its associated pathologization. But how has trans life looked like before this time? To My Ancestors is looking for answers to these questions. Nonbinary character Kaya creates an invocation ritual for their trans ancestors.

The performance is looking for traces of people in the history of what is today Europe who could be read as trans. This investigation itself is made from the perspective of a non-binary person.

Text fragments based on thorough research accompany the performance. Video footage of queer plants, archival footage of trans history, and images of queer deities and spirits form a video installation, which creates its own narrative thread.

To my Ancestors is rewriting history. The performance casts a lineage of trans ancestry that has been largely ignored in previous historiography.

To my Ancestors creates a collective ritual of gender euphoria in which a non-binary person evokes their trans ancestors.

Script, Directing und Performance Dan Dansen
Music CNM
Camera video installation Antonia Pepita Giesler, Dan Dansen
Video- and audio installation Dan Dansen

UPCOMING

Deutschlandfunk, online
Geschlecht – Braucht Mensch das? in the show Freistil
Interview and portrait with sounds of the performance To my Ancestors - Trans-Formations in Space and Time in episode 4 Was wir gewinnen


August 2024

Berlin, Germany
14.08.2024
To my Ancestors - Trans-Formations in Space and Time, Performance at the Garden of Floating Transformations - an evening with performance, video and sounds.
Team Magic cordially invites to projections of floating sheep, a ritualistic invocation of trans ancestors, transcendental and disharmonic sound improvisations and vocal compost.
With: CNM, Dan Dansen, Qwigo Flux, Adrian Gutzelnig and Justin Time.
6:00 p.m. Doors open
7:00 p.m. Program start
9:00 p.m. Performance by and with Dan Dansen
At the Villa Kuriosum garden, Scheffelstr. 21, 10367 Berlin


June 2024

Bielefeld, Germany
11.06.2024
To my Ancestors - Trans-Formations in Space and Time guest performance - proudly presented by the Interdisciplinary Center for Gender Studies of University Bielefeld, supported by the Diversity Committee
07:00 p.m. Performance by and with Dan Dansen
At theaterlabor Bielefeld, TOR 6 Theaterhaus, Hermann-Kleinewächter-Str. 4, Bielefeld


November 2023

Deutschlandfunk, radio feature
12.11.2023
Geschlecht – Braucht Mensch das? in the show Freistil
Interview and portrait with sounds of the performance To my Ancestors - Trans-Formations in Space and Time in episode 4 Was wir gewinnen
08:05 p.m. first broadcast in the linear program, afterwards online in the media center.


July 2023

Weimar, Germany
14.07.2023
To my Ancestors - Trans-Formations in Space and Time as opening act for the exhibition Plant Blindness Vol. 1
19:00 p.m. Performance by and with Dan Dansen
At the gallery Stockwerk, Am Kirschberg 4, 1. Stockwerk, 99423 Weimar


June 2023

Leipzig, Germany
16.06.2023
To my Ancestors - Trans-Formations in Space and Time as lecture performance within the framework of membra(i)nes, the 12th Gender Studies Association Annual Conference
11:00 a.m. Lecture-performance by and with Dan Dansen as part of the panel "Myth as membrane of time"
At the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig, Wächterstraße 11, 04107 Leipzig


December 2022

Berlin, Germany
09.12.2022
To my Ancestors - Trans-Formations in Space and Time experimental film (WIP)
7:00 p.m. Doors open
8:00 p.m screening with Q&A
At gallery NEON KUNST, Herrfurthstraße 23, 12049 Berlin, Germany


Berlin, Deutschland
08.12.2022
To my Ancestors - Trans-Formations in Space and Time solo performance
6:00 p.m. Doors open
7:00 p.m. Performance by and with Dan Dansen
At gallery NEON KUNST, Herrfurthstraße 23, 12049 Berlin, Germany


August 2022

Berlin, Germany
24.08.2022
To my Ancestors - Trans-Formations in Space and Time as part of the group show Sounds of Water by the association Studios Australian Embassy East
6:00 p.m. Performance by and with Dan Dansen
At Kleiner Wasserspeicher Prenzlauer Berg, Diedenhofer Straße, 10405 Berlin


July 2022

Berlin, Germany
02.07.2022
To my Ancestors - Trans-Formations in Space and Time with an interactive botanical garden of queer plants
7:30 p.m. doors open for the installation
8:00 p.m. performance
At alpha nova & galerie futura, Am Flutgraben 3, 12435 Berlin


Berlin, Germany
01.07.2022
World Premiere: To my Ancestors - Trans-Formations in Space and Time with an interactive botanical garden of queer plants
7:30 p.m. doors open for the installation
8:00 p.m. performance
At alpha nova & galerie futura, Am Flutgraben 3, 12435 Berlin

More shows to be announced.


Funding: