Budget Se Havet som Kulisse
Income:
Funding received: 91.000 DKK (incl. housing grant)
Ticket sales: 3.000 DKK
Funding distributed (fees):
Artist fee: 25.000 DKK
Artist production fee: 10.000 DKK
Curators fee: Sif Lindblad & Klara Li: 0 DKK
Designers fee: Alexis Mark: 12.000 DKK
Rent: 13.500 DKK
Budget Love in Relief
Income:
Funding received: 67.500 DKK (incl. housing grant)
Ticket sales: 3.000 DKK
Funding distributed (fees):
Artist fee: 25.000 DKK
Curators fee: Sif Lindblad & Klara Li: 0 DKK
Designers fee: Alexis Mark: 12.000 DKK
Rent 13.500 DKK
Hello,
In this letter, we’re wrapping up the two most recent residencies of Tryouts, as we now find ourselves in the midst of the final one—marking the conclusion of our exploration of the performative gesture.
Poet and artist Zahna Siham Benamor moved in back in November 2024 with her project with the beautifully long title Se havet som kulisse, som et cellofanhav, som en elefant, som din mave spist af en krokodille og begravet under et træ, som en shaman, som en scene. The project cemented her poetic approach to a spatially engaged practice. This was Siham’s first solo exhibition and residency, through which she explored the cave as a physical space, a site of belonging, and a symbol of revolt and rebellion against the system—elements that have always been present in her work, driven by a desire to undermine the established order and create a sanctuary for the exiled.
Through two performances—very different in tone and emotional resonance—she activated the total installation, which featured a turquoise mirror monolith evoking an oasis in the desert and a clay-covered floor that had dried into a desert-like landscape, only to crumble into dust when the visitors stepped inside for her premiering performance.
We concluded her residency with the release of her first book, published by our colleagues at the Laboratory for Aesthetics and Ecology, with readings by Siham in Danish, artist Banaan Al-Nassar in Arabic, and Siham again in French—the three languages in which the book is written.
Artist Ville Laurinkoski took over the space at the beginning of February 2025 with an ambitious project—both spatially and conceptually—pushing the exploration of the performative gesture to its limits through a one-and-a-half-hour performance. Love in Relief was a collective project that involved reimagining the spatial architecture of our space: new lighting, doors connecting the two rooms, mattresses filling the entire front space, and a shelving structure that laid bare All all all’s (very) messy backroom. A total installation that acted as a support structure for Ville’s three performances.
Love in Relief was genuinely a generous project, for us and—hopefully—for the audiences who sat through a performance that moved through a wide range of emotions for that long of a duration. We feel a little sorry for those who missed it. We lived with that performance for a month, with multiple full-length dress rehearsals that took on an almost sacred quality. It was a reminder of the need and importance of providing artists with the time and space, through the residency-format, to rehearse when performance is placed at the front.
The collaboration concluded with an anthology, composed by Ville, featuring contributions from both him and us—texts and excerpts that had inspired the research and development of the project.
We were fortunate to raise additional funding for these two projects, especially with Ny Carlsbergfondet supporting Siham’s project with 85,000 DKK, which we are super appreciative of. Still, we continue to face challenges with other funding bodies, some of whom still struggle to understand our attempt to cross artistic genres. One rejection letter stated: “We cannot support the project as the visual arts element does not appear to be the primary focus,” prompting us to ask: since when has performance not been part of the visual arts?
Luckily though, we received funding from the same foundation for Ville’s project though both his and Siham’s projects were conceived as total installations activated through a series of performances.
We’re looking forward to presenting the last project of Tryouts, Belly Belly Bread by Hedda Bauer, and to presenting a kind of epilogue to the Tryouts program as part of the festival for emerging art spaces, Under, at Simian, opening on May 17, 2025.
The Tryouts year-programme, incl. maintenance and housing expenses, is funded by Statens Kunstfond, Knud Højgaards Fond, William Demant Fonden and Beckett-Fonden.
Additionally, Se Havet som Kulisse was funded by Ny Carlsbergfondet and Love in Relief was funded by Nørrebro Lokaludvalg, Augustinus Fonden, and Rådet for Visuel Kunst.