“I am body and manifesto.
I am a witness and evidence of the manipulation.
I don't want to ask permission to be.
I don't have to ask permission to be.
I don't want to be defined by you, by anything, or by anyone.
I don't want to be from here or there.
If my existence threatens you, it's because you're afraid of losing your privileges.

If your walls try to surround me, my words will be the weapon that makes them fall.

If you hurt me, I will heal.
And I'll repeat it all again.
Because I have a pact with all of mine
Because it is my duty and my only way to resist.”

“The Safe Circle” is a performance piece within Tanja Ostojić’s collaborative project Mis(s)placed Women?, which explores displacement and migration from a feminist perspective. This action seeks to question the power relations between the body and space, particularly the vulnerability experienced by women and gender non-conforming individuals. Space is not always a territory, but almost always a place, and this often expels or renders invisible its inhabitants, creating a metaphorical void that denies presence. Places teeming with people yet stripped of identity, where people inhabit adversity, where we pass through but never leave a trace, where these power relations and vulnerability become increasingly visible and enduring.

The work submitted for the 60th National Visual Arts Prize consists of two parts. First, a record of the performance held in Berlin in 2019, and second, its iteration in the exhibition space. The first part comprises an archaeological exploration of the 2019 Berlin performance, displayed on a wall of the gallery. This installation includes photographic and film documentation, maps, a catalog, postcards, emails, the performance poster, and other items related to the event.

Part 2 consists of the iteration of the performance "The Safe Circle" in front of this wall.

The iteration of the performance involves appropriation and reinterpretation. The elements that emerge from the suitcase will be different. There will be a plant, a rock, aromatic herbs, food, amulets, old and new books, photos, etc. In this instance, the performance expands and addresses the displaced human being in an attempt to de-anthropocentricize and challenge this being, the axis of hegemonic Western culture defined by the hetero cis Judeo-Christian man as the only being capable of defining and deciding about the world and everything it contains.

The Safe Circle - Misplaced Women?

Performance

Berlin 2019

Montevideo 2022