Don’t talk, just act. Don’t say, just show. Don’t promise, just prove. (2018) / I Am Who I Am, I Am What I Am, I Do What I Do (2019)

These duo performances with Hans Christian van Nijkerk analyzed the impact of social media on human behavior and how it has created new ways of communication. They especially addressed the phenomenon of online self-presentation and social media bragging, and created playful conversations for the performances. They made a performance “Don't talk just act. Don't say, just show, Don't promise, just prove.” at Small Projects gallery in Tromsø at the beginning of December when the sun never rose. They first welcomed people with exaggerated hospitality, then we invited some of the audience to participate in a conversation with small-talk scripts. Following that, they had a comical and puzzling dialogue with a script of social media quotes.

In the performance “I Am Who I Am, I Am What I Am, I Do What I Do” in Dhaka, they invited audience members to Curzon Hall, the historically significant building for the Bengali Language Movement and they had a scripted conversation assembled from social media quotes, which can be interpreted as another language invasion in the global context. After that, they divided the audience into pairs and assigned each pair to have a bragging conversation with their partner.

“Don't talk, just act. Don't say, just show, Don't promise, just prove.” -duo performance with Hans Christian van Nijkerk at Small Projects, Tromsø, Norway

(photo by Mats Gangvik, video by Hans Christian van Nijkerk)

“I Am Who I Am, I Am What I Am, I Do What I Do” -duo performance with Hans Christian van Nijkerk at Curzon Hall in the University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh: Organized by Dhaka Live Art Biennale 

(photo 1 by Soumyak Saha Dhrubo, photo 2 by Adil Hasnat, photo 3, 6 by Nowsher Roman, photo 4, 5 by Rupomoi Tongchangya)