Durational Performance

The starting point for The Two Pop(e)s is two paintings. The first is Velazquez’s painting of Pope Innocent X (1650). The second is a mirror-image or photographic negative of Velazquez’s portrait by Francis Bacon, titled: Study after Velazquez’s Portrait of Innocent X (1953).

The performance is, in essence, a recording and reporting of the research we conducted into the paintings’ history and also into the paintings’ various interpretations. But it is also about our contemporary take on themes that the paintings confront us with.

The Two Pop(e)s took the form of structured improvisation. The performers/popes played with the material they assembled without a clear score letting the live interaction with the viewers control the decision they make. It is as if the two popes are just passing time while waiting for their portraits to be taken.

Popes: Yosi Wanunu, Roland Rauschmeier
Video and music: Michael Strohmann
Make-up: Marietta Dang
Set: Ensemble
Concept: Yosi Wanunu
Produced by Kornelia Kilga

A collaboration with PKW

ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival at Leopold Museum, Vienna/ July 25 -27, 2023