Aichi Triennale 2019

Artist Dora García is known for her various delegated performances, where the actions and characters are often played by undercover performers and even an unknowing audience. She creates theatrical situations in which the visitors are unable to remain bystanders, reconsidering the relationship between audience and artwork, between act and perception.
As part of the international exhibition, Garcia is proposing the performance "The Romeos", performed for the first time in 2005 in Madrid and now presented for the first time in Japan, after presentations in Brussels, Paris, London and Trondheim. "The Romeos" draw inspiration from a Cold War strategy designed by East Germany spymaster Markus Wolf. The original East German Romeos were a group of young men who romanced West German government secretaries in order to obtain information. Somehow, the women accepted and enjoyed the Romeos loving attention even if they knew their love was "not real" - since what they were really after, was information. García asks then the question: Why would that love and attention be "not real"? What defines authenticity in a relationship? This important question is what is at play in the present Aichi Triennale performance "The Romeos", where a group of attractive men will approach exhibition visitors in an impeccably polite and loving manner. Will the visitors accept their attention even if the visitors are aware The Romeos are "performing"?
Furthermore, The Romeos will appear on a stage set up simulating a press conference, at a lecture performance held specially for Aichi Triennale 2019. Through a Q&A session with the audience, García will reveal the inner clockwork of the performance, asking herself questions to the Romeos, and, very exceptionally, answering The Romeos' questions.

Extension Projects:
Projects including lecture-style performances by artists participating in the international contemporary art exhibition, group appreciation of work, and the provision of venues for discussion.