Oz

performance

December 17, 7pm

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Mi casa, su casa, 2021, installation / performance, 6 Caquelons, tablecloths, banner, bails 

Oz Oderbolz (*1988, Basel) lives and works in Zurich. In their art practice Oz examines objects that are an expression of (Swiss) customs and traditions in their use, based on their family history. These identity-forming objects often have patriarchal or nationalistic-patriotic histories, which the artist contrasts with decidedly intersectional possibilities of use. Their queer recontextualisation makes it clear that the objects themselves are only carriers of certain attitudes that can be rewritten in the course of other uses. A reassignment that takes place in the respective knowledge of the historical contexts of use and, based on the historicity of the objects, spins new stories into the future. Thus, in the course of their installations, performances and sculptures, the artist deals with socio-political structures in which they try to introduce transformative narratives. Their works function as interruptions and thresholds. They are conceived as interstices in which possibilities for utopias open up. Their pop culture-inspired artistic explorations of queerness, emotion, spirituality, education and empowerment revolve around creating spaces defined by community, participation and sharing. 

Adopted as an infant, Oz and their twin brother grew up together with two non-birth siblings in the canton of Uri. The siblings share the same Swiss roots in terms of upbringing and culture, but the artist has always felt uneasy about their own identity - based on the feeling that they have nothing to do with their surroundings, Oz has always experienced himself as a foreign body in the very Swiss-traditional (mountain) world of the canton of Uri. With the installation "mi casa, su casa" (2021), conceived in this version for the Haus für Kunst Uri, the artist appropriates the caquelon and the tradition of eating a cheese fondue together as an expression of "being Swiss". On display is a long table decorated with white tablecloths and a lace blanket, on which six black caquelons are displayed on their corresponding réchauds, as well as a white banner adorning the phrase "mi casa su casa". 

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The presentation refers to a performance by the artist in spring 2021, at the centre of which questions of the communal, the community-creating practice of eating and cultural identity were spread out performatively. For example, the artist invited friends to a communal meal for which artist designed caquelons were used. The shiny black glaze and vine-like outgrowths lend the objects an organic character, clearly setting them apart from the classic réchauds on which they stand and thus alienating the familiar kitchen utensil that is inextricably linked to the Swiss national dish of cheese fondue and notions of convivial togetherness. By bringing the caquelon into the art context and activating it performatively, Oz breaks up the structures of use and systems of reference and offers new forms of (queer) gathering. The (forced) corset of traditions is unravelled and combined with queer narratives so that new forms of historiography become possible. The central moment of this performative shift is the idea that queer strategic kinships always live from the common telling of history(s) with which one positions oneself. At the same time, the gesture of preparing food and sharing a meal refers to forms of care from a mother's role, whereby it becomes clear that the concept of "mother" here does not refer to a biological identity at all, but is defined on the basis of the tasks that a person assumes for a group of people.