Choreographies of Power: The Public Movement Collective

Co-founded in 2006 by Dana Yahalomi and Omer Krieger, the Israeli collective Public Movement is a performative research group that stages public choreographies and rituals such as parades, referendums, dances and games (most of the times in public spaces) to explore how political power structures aestheticize daily life to produce identification and consensus to the status quo. This community-based practice rooted in discussions and interviews, dubbed by the group “performing politics,” aims to produce collective awareness through art and play. The group’s performances are place and time-specific—or rather context-specific—and therefore unique. As in the tradition of performance art and Happenings, they are usually not repeated; their success relies precisely on the unexpected effects they produce on the audience. The group’s work could be distinguished in two areas, determined by the two different types of audience addressed: a generic and a specific one. The generic audience mostly consists of anonymous passersby who behold and sometimes participate in choreographed public performances based on celebrative events or simulating real-life situations, like emergency procedures and joyful gatherings inspired by Jewish youth organizations. A specific audience, instead, is addressed during debriefing one-on-one sessions conducted by a so-called “Agent” in a formal setting, or in conferences opened to many people. Their critique of representational democracy is a way to empower the audience in under-standing how choices are determined and the role of the individual within a community and the state.