DEEVAN*
Performance-  Kunstraum Memphis- Linz            
2024


DEEVAN* represents ‘queer citizens’ worldwide - people with a migration background whose identity - like that of Deevs - is characterized by ambiguity. Beings who are exposed to a mechanism of ‘fear of the unknown’, perceived as distant and inaccessible, while their thoughts and identities remain unknown, alien and unreachable.

DEEVAN* operates on the boundaries between cultures, navigating the complexities of uncertainty and change. In this ambiguity, the project deals with profound questions about existence, belonging, and social contradictions. DEEVAN* aimed to create a “space” for those who “do not fit”—for fractured identities—while opening discussions about otherness. The project was not about introducing something new or highlighting divisions within society. Instead, it pursued to think outside the boxes: origin as a box, skin color as a box, gender as a box, immigrants labeled as victims, felons or heroes as a box, and even “normal” as a box.

Through an absurd loop in a performance, DEEVAN* challenged the established without creating a replacement. It rejected the need to define or confine. DEEVAN* didn’t aim to fix or destroy; it simply aimed a space for openness, emergence, chaos, and becoming.

Naming queer citizens* as DEEV* is an effort to rejuvenate language— to invent new terms that allow for more nuanced, complex, and deeply humanized definitions,and I believe there are many more words yet to be created.

DEEVAN*
Kunstraum Memphis
DEEVAN* Exhibition
Ānn Verein