Manuel Pelmuș: Permanent Collection Performance

Photo: Beniamin Boar

Manuel Pelmuș returns to MUNCH with a new version of his series of ‘simultaneous ongoing actions’, speculating whether a museum could have its own permanent collection of performances. 

The performance can be experienced in the exhibition Edvard Munch Monumental on floor 6 for all regular entrance ticket holders in the relevant time period.  

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. 
Building on his performance of Permanent Collection for the opening of MUNCH in October 2021, Pelmuș will stage simultaneous actions at the legendary Sala Omnia in Bucharest, and at the iconic gay bar London Pub in Oslo. The dancers in each location move together across time and space.  

Concept: Manuel Pelmuș  
Performers: Ingunn Rimestad, Jens Trinidad, Ornilia Ubisse, Beniamin Boar, Elizabeth Ward, Mihai Mihalcea

Manuel Pelmuş (born in Bucharest, Romania, 1974), is based in Oslo. He has a background in choreography and dance and is interested in the idea of a live presence within the context of exhibitions, exploring the human body’s relationship to memory and the construction of history. In 2012 he was awarded the Berlin Art Prize for performance arts, and in 2013 he represented Romania at the 55th Venice Biennale in a collaboration with Alexandra Pirici. His work has been presented at a number of international museums including Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, and the Van Abbemuseum.