www.come-alive.nl Intimacy and sensuality help us to connect with ourselves and others, turning inward to find vitality and abundance. In precarious times punctuated by crises, we see the establishment crumble while more and more people experience insecurity as a daily reality. How can we support each other in these alienating times? COME ALIVE presents a remedy. Eroticism can be the creative forc
e that reconnects us, and enables people to open up to others and to surrender to something greater than themselves. COME ALIVE is the latest production of Niet Normaal INT (NNI) foundation, curated by Ine Gevers and Morgan Catalina, with installations, films, games, scent, sound and performances by 40 international artists and designers in Het Nieuwe Muntgebouw, Utrecht, June-July 2022. COME ALIVE is part of the Utrecht 900 program. The corona pandemic is exposing an important truth: new values must replace the old paradigm of extraction, growth and short-term profit. COME ALIVE rejects the framework of scarcity thinking, competitiveness, individualization and overconsumption, which lead to social anxiety, depression and an exhausted planet. Instead COME ALIVE embraces ways to find meaning in forming deeply human connections, both mentally and physically. In short: fighting despair with joy.
“ONLY SEX WAS A SUFFICIENTLY POWERFUL FORCE TO RESHAPE SOCIETY” - Olivia Laing
History shows how sexuality as a wild energy can reshape societies. For that reason, eroticism - and communities associated with it - are still labeled as dangerous by certain groups. Even today there is still resistance to eroticism and sexuality as an indomitable and uncontrollable force. Oppression of women and people of color was, and is, the basis of many well-oiled Western economies. Liberation of that suppressed life force helps us create new realities. COME ALIVE gets the energy flowing again.
40 participating artists, including:
The Army of Love, Melanie Bonajo and Skinship, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Johan Grimonprez, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Annika Kappner, Oscar Peters, Eoghan Ryan, Mette Sterre, Inge and Martin Riebeek, Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens. About the curator team
Ine Gevers is Artistic Director of the Niet Normaal Foundation and according to Dezeen, one of the “most radical curators in the Netherlands.” Morgan Catalina is an independent curator and holistic sexuality educator, with a focus on sexuality as a force for healing. COME ALIVE is part of the celebration of Utrecht 900 years in 2022, enjoys the hospitality of Het Nieuwe Muntgebouw and collaborates with WINK, The Attention Group, and De Zware Jongens.
