Catalogue > Un extrait vidéo au hasard
Damir Ocko
The Dawn Chorus
Vidéo | 4k | couleur | 17:43 | Croatie | 2023
"The Dawn Chorus" is an outbreak of birdsong at the start of a new day, depicted in the film as the inspiration for a dream-like gathering of the artists local queer community in Zagreb. This joyous celebration of queer bodies pays homage to the kingdom of birds through voguing, dancing, drag and costumes. It is a transposition that imagines the potential in the intersection between our own identities and the inclusive spaces that are open for other species. Filmed without the predictable popular electronic beats typically associated with ballroom, the film solely features the sounds of bodies in motion, the rhythmic impact of dancing, resounding percussive noises created by bodies, and chanting. These elements are accompanied by polyphonic sounds of birdsong onomatopoeias, sourced from ornithological manuals and sung by ”Le Zbor” a lesbian-antifascist choir from Zagreb accompanied by subtle gravity-like pedal tones played on Organ.
Damir Ocko (b. 1977, Zagreb) Graduate from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, O?ko has exhibited on solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Krems, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Jeu de Paume, Paris, National Gallery in Prague, Museum of contemporary Art Bordeaux, Museo Amparo, Mexico, DAZIBAO, Montreal, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Yvon Lambert Gallery in Paris, Künstlerhaus Halle für Kunst und Medien in Graz, Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, Temple Bar Gallery and Studios in Dublin, Kunstverein Leipzig among other places. He participated in numerous group exhibitions internationally with institutions such as, OFF Biennale Budapest, MUDAM in Luxembourg, FRAC le Plateau, Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Kunsthalle Vienna, Louis Vuitton foundation among others. Damir O?ko represented Croatia in the 56th Venice Biennale with a solo exhibition "Studies on Shivering / The Third Degree. His works are included in many public and private collections such as FRAC le Plateau, Foundation Louis Vuitton, CNAP – Centre national des arts plastiques in Paris, MUDAM in Luxembourg and Museum of contemporary Art in Zagreb, among others.