I don't want a president

2019

Performance (10 min), 65 sheets of paper (A5 size)

Documentation photos: Andrea Grundt Johns and Nayara Leite

The performance I don’t want a president is an adaptation of Zoe Leonard’s piece I want a president from 1992. Her text was modified in order to present current universal issues that have been seen in many different countries – such as homophobia, racism, misogyny, etc – when I am, in fact, talking about Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro.

This piece was performed at KODE 3, Bergen. The quotes from my adaptation were read out loud by me while I walked up the museum’s staircase. Each quote was read after each step and then a sheet of paper with the quote written in it was attached to the wall. When I read the last quote and reached the top, 65 sheets of A5 paper with the whole text were left for the audience. On the day the performance was done, 6 March 2019, it had been 65 days since Bolsonaro’s inauguration – hence the number of sheets.