When the World Blows Up, I Hope to Go Down Dancing

The title work of the exhibition celebrates freestyle dance as a way of liberation. When she was in artist residency in Poland, Maria Kapajeva offered women of at least 40 years the opportunity to dance to their favourite song in her studio. Among the participants were women of different marital status, both with and without children. The shooting day became a therapeutic and meaningful event for both the artist and all the participants, dancing together in front of and behind the camera.

The title of the work is a quote from the film Gloria Bell (directed by S. Lelio, 2018), in which the title character of the film summarises a heated conversation about the looming dark future of our planet with the words: “When the world blows up, I hope to go down dancing.” Kapajeva’s video can also be seen as a kind of paraphrased tribute to the common misquotation of feminist Emma Goldman (1869–1940): “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be in your revolution.”

Director and camera: Maria Kapajeva

Lighting assistant: Alina Żemojdzin / Luks Sfera

Artistic consultant: Ula Zerek

Participants: Katarzyna Stefańska-Malec, Maja Kosińska, Małgorzata Żmuda, Magdalena Olchowik-Rama, Anna Muller, Danuta Wasielewska, Beata Polak-Pela, Agnieszka Świeczyńska, Małgorzata Imieńska

Produced with the support of Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art (Poland) and Cultural Endowment of Estonia.