Headstand

– a  performance project by Lisa Dillan

 

Welcome to the Headstand!

You will find each Headstand presented with pictures and texts in the “Headstand archive” on the top of the menu bar to the right.

These people and happenings have been headstanded so far, in order of appearance:

1. The mayor of Moscow, Jurij Luzjkov
2. The leader of the Frp party, Siv Jensen
3. The royal wedding, Sweden
4. Fritt Ord and Harald Eia (in norwegian)
5. The Norwegian Asylum politics and the  Police (in norwegian)
6. Harald Eia and Co
7. The Israeli Occupation
8. The Kapittel Festival 2013
   
9. Prior and Ultra
10. Statens Vegvesen – Stopp og sov

 Human Rights Declaration, Article 1:

 “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”.

 

Equal rights – for whom?

The Human Rights declaration was written in 1946. The UN today  is based upon this sentence. It is also the core of our main religious practices from Islam to Christianity and Buddhism, where tolerance, truth, respect and love is spoken.

It is a common understanding, and therefore a sentence I find worth thinking about, problematize and discussing. How do we all, if at all, enhance the wisdom that lies beneath this vision?

What is power?  How do our leaders relate to the Human Rights principles? Who are our true leaders, is it the prime minister or is it our celebrities?

Is it the priest or is it the capitalistic system aiming to get richer, stronger and more powerful what ever the cost might be for the significant “others”?

Is it a structure or is it a personal action, or perhaps both? Is it ignorance where you should have spoken?

With power, there follows great responsibility.

“Equal rights for whom” is a question that is applicable to disagreements in our everyday life, but also the core of the main conflicts in a global context. Who owns the earth-kind-of.

 

What the headstand symbolizes:

The headstand project is a personal, independent action dedicated to different topics, persons and locations that I find interesting or provocative due to the Human Rights article nr 1.

A headstand is a vulnerable position. It is an opposite, non threatening but powerful position. I find this position suitable to demonstrate that I disagree, and that I want change.

The headstand is a way of expressing my frustration, instead of swallowing it.

 

You will find each new headstand and text presented in  the “Headstand Archive” – the small, orange menu on the top of the right side.

Get back to this page by holding the mouse on the big, orange headline on the top and click.

Obs! Comments that are racistic, homophobic, sexsistic or contains harassements towards any of the headstanded persons or causes, or towards any user of the blog, will be deleted imediately by the admin.

Best wishes,

Lisa  Dillan,  Oslo, September 2009

…¤…

Picture: Lisa Dillan “Headstand”, photo by Line Halvorsen

---

[1] Quote by the Norwegian magazine “Blikk”