The three exhibitions If I can’t dance… were conceived with artworks from a cycle of several years, questioning the systems of authority, power and their depiction. Each exhibition bears a title based on the same sentence:
- If I can’t dance in your revolution, I’m not coming, at Spatiu Intact Foundation in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, between October and December 2017
- If I can’t dance, I don’t want your revolution, at Pilote in Paris in February and March 2018
- If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution, at Quadrilatère, centre d’art de Beauvais between April and June 2018.
Each title is a variation of quotations from the early 20th century feminist and anarchist Emma Goldman. These words, never exactly thus uttered by the activist but modified by “public rumor” from statements she had spoke and wrote, nevertheless synthesize her thought without betraying it.
“They also express the politics of the evolving contemporary feminist peace movement– a politics of joie de vivre in the face of the threat to life posted by the many ugly, faceless faces of militarism. […] Therefore, an important aspect of this movement is an opposition to bureaucracy, to pontifical political posturing, to the inflexibility and lack of imagination of the world of men in neckties and uniform. It is the very lifelessness of these institutional creatures and creations that threatens the continuation of life on the planet– so to oppose a culture and politics of death with a culture and politics of life is a requirement of our time.” [1]
From then on, many generations of activists drew on music and dance, parties and carnivals, to radically transform daily life and the political struggle.
- Ynestra King, If I can’t dance in your revolution, I’m not coming, Emilie Hache (dir.), Reclaim, Collection of ecofeminist essays, Paris, Cambourakis, 2016.
