credits

Idea & Performance: Alexander Deutinger, Alexander Gottfarb
Sound Design: Stephan Sperlich
Lighting Design: Peter Thalhamer
Coproduction: Kunstverein Archipelago, PI22 and WUK performing arts.
Supported by: Kulturabteilung der Stadt Wien, Stadt Graz Kultur, Kultur Land Steiermark, Bundeskanzleramt Österreich and The Place, London.
More about the piece: The times of short-lived, brave and heroic men and their martial codes seem long gone, yet many of their behavioural patterns and ways of thinking still have a way of prevailing today. From gender courtesy and gallantry to MMORPGs, Live Action Role Playing and TV shows - all inspired by medieval knighthood - a revival of male codes of "valour" and "honour" is thriving on the marketplace. In a society attempting to move on and free itself from heavily patriarchal structures, the concepts of chivalry and chauvinism are dangerously intertwined. The armoured body is used as a symbolic representation of these concepts, exemplifying the discrepancy between the outer and the inner: An idea of masculinity derived from being hard and unforgiving on the outside, while soft and understanding at heart.

Deutinger & Gottfarb

Chivalry is Dead

Austria The Twenty15

When two men take the Y out of irony, all they are left with is iron.

Alexander Deutinger & Alexander Gottfarb, in full body armour, question the prevalence of knightly valour and blood-spattered fantasy in TV and gaming. No horse, no damsels, no enemies – how can they keep up their medieval ideals of morals and manliness now? Must chivalry come to a clanking halt?

Biography

Alexander Deutinger studied Translation and Interpreting at Karl-Franzens University, Graz and Contemporary Dance at Anton Bruckner University, Linz. As a performer he has worked, among others, with Oleg Soulimenko, Christine Gaigg, Anna Mendelssohn. Since 2008 he has been creating his own works together with Marta Navaridas. Selected works: Your Majesties, Speaking of Which, On the Other Hand.

Alexander Gottfarb studied dance at the Stockholm Ballet Academy. As a performer he has worked, among others, with Chris Haring/liquid loft, Elio Gervasi and Iztok Kovač. Selected works: Baga-Basta with Milan Tomášik (Les Slovaks), Marvel at the World, Political Movements, Moved by Faith, On Celebration and Lamentation.

Next artist Ayelen Parolin