¡Viva Revolucion! (Kevin)


2005

2-channel video installation, DV-video 21 mins and 6 mins, color/sound.
—Gay boy, gay boy, what’s wrong with you? You used to be a straight boy, now you are just a gay boy, who doesn’t have a fucking clue.

The work was initially produced for the exhibition A Queer Was Here, which took place during Pride in Stockholm, Sweden. As a general critique of the Pride event and its highly commodified and excluding development over the years, the band ¡Viva Revolution! was invited to perform their song Gay Boy.

Both their music and their attitude challenge the stereotypical, commercialised mainstream image of a gay man. The band’s lead singer also performed six monologues that mixed exceptionally private confessions, love stories, accusations, and, above all, speaks about being an outsideras an immigrant, gay, and black man. 
But somehow, when you push so hard for alternatives in your approach, you risk imposing and confirming a set of new norms yourself. 

While a film of the band’s performance was projected in 1:1 scale in a public space, the monologues were shown separately in a more private setting.

¡Viva Revolution!, installation view, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 2005.
Kevin. film stills. Camera: Conny Karlsson Lundgren.
¡Viva Revolution!, installation view, .HBC, Berlin, 2010.

Performers:  ¡Viva Revolution!  (Kevin Troy Williams, Jakob Åberg, Johan Häglund, Ilona Iliza Frida Ray).  Commissioned for the exhibition A Queer Was Here, curated by Nicklas Dennermalm, Andjeas Ejiksson, Johan Lundh.Exhibitions: Kulturhuset, Stockholm SE.
Copenhagen Queer Festival, Copenhagen DK. .HBC, Berlin DE.

 ©MMXIV Conny Karlsson Lundgren