For the exhibition I am not what you see, created specifically for hall 5 at CC, Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen has created four sculptures which double as architectural costumes. This is supplemented by the performance Cocktails where the performers populate the sculptures in the exhibition and activate them. The five new works present an examination of aspects of nomadism, ethnicity, and identity, tracing themes addressed by the artist since the start of her artistic practice.

Cocktails is a cross-aesthetic performance work which will be performed in the exhibition. Each sculpture is populated and worn by various performers. The performers work basically on an individual basis, but during the performance, they mingle into a single cocktail. The works are created by very different materials, but common to them all is their replicating a type of dwelling and offering mental journeys to distant destinations. This takes place via the sculptural design, referencing a variety of iconic nomadic dwellings. The sculptures are readily recognisable symbols of other types of dwelling, but challenge the ideas we may have about them by playing the triple role of sculpture, clothing, and architecture.
With her exhibition, Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen poses relevant questions about nomadic life: Who are today’s nomads and where do they belong? What do we bring with us in terms of ideas and genetics? Who are you if you – like the artist – has a dual ethnic identity and your traditions and home come from two or more countries, parts of the world, or cultures? Rather than just reducing one another to simple and unambiguous categories such as man, woman, Asian or European, artist or whatever, Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen asks us to be open to discovering the invisible/non-visible/less visible.

About Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen

Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen (b.1970) is a performance and visual artist who, throughout her career, has evolved a definite cross-aesthetic expression. Text and other mechanisms such as music, costumes, and a stringent scenography play a significant role in her narratives. Adopting a critical and humorous approach, she asks questions about ethnicity, identity, gender, social relations, and affiliation. Many of these themes reflect Cuenca Rasmussen’s dual nationality with her Filipino mother and Danish father, making her artistic practice distinct, since she points to several cultures simultaneously and, through her art, defines a third position: creating her own home in and with the artwork to take with her wherever she goes.

Performers

Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen

Christian Dehn Frandsen

Karolina Leedo

Tira Skamby

Mia Kingo

Liva Xamanek

Emma Annfeldt,

Sofie Mark Wegener