Performance festival takes over Gothenburg: “If they want a chainsaw, you want to know what they have in mind”

A performance involving an electric chainsaw may be among the surprises awaiting Gothenburg residents at this year’s Live Action festival.

The festival, which began in 2006, places performance art in the city’s public spaces. Eleven artists from around the world will stage works over three days, often without passersby knowing in advance what they are about to see.

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The young people thought it was fantastic and wondered, ‘What the hell is this?’

Project leader Joakim Stampe recalled a 2019 work by Finnish performance artist Roi Vaara, who dragged an amplified electric guitar along a street with its strings facing downward. Younger onlookers called it fantastic and asked what they were seeing, while some older residents thought it was outrageous. Stampe said the work later went viral.

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If I see that they want an electric chainsaw, you want to know what the hell they have in mind.

Live Action has deepened its cooperation with international festivals over the past two years, allowing it to introduce new artists to Swedish audiences. This year’s participants include Thai artist Pitchapa Wangprasertkul, who will perform in Brunnsparken.

The festival’s theme, “After Auschwitz,” draws on Theodor W. Adorno’s question about the possibility of writing poetry after the Holocaust. Stampe said the broader issue concerns art’s purpose during a period of war and climate change. British artist John Court, who lives and works in northern Finland, will connect with the theme by rolling and overturning large tank barriers in central Gothenburg for six to eight hours each day. Stampe said artists often provide only a list of materials, leaving the exact performance as a surprise.

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Is there a meaning in what we do in a time of climate change and war?