FNO-Factory of Found Clothes

17 february, 2011 - 7:30 PM
Place
Edificio Sabatini, Auditorioum
Organized by
Museo Reina Sofía
Father-transition and children chorus, 2008
Father-transition and children chorus, 2008

FFC defines itself as an unusual example of a female and feminist collective which, while looking at gender questions (in an attempt to try out new and radical forms of male-female interaction) extends its discourse to broader concepts, traditionally associated with the female sphere, such as weakness and emotions. Thus, in its performances, FFC forces members of the audience into acts of solidarity and compassion in situ, through observation of and participation in their own weakness and that of others. Its manifesto unfolds the potential of working with a new sentimentality different from the old sentimentalism (taking into account that emotions seem to have become the exclusive territory of mainstream Hollywood film), while at the same time making a call for collective action for social change, with the first step being the overthrow of an art scene dominated by coldness and calculation.

Their work is a firm response to the invisible forms of repression present in today's Russia, a daring action that seems – through the irony of history – to recall the criticism of "the icy water of egotistical calculation" that for Marx defined the mentality of the capitalist bourgeoisie.

Thus, FFC, in its work, sets forth a new definition of the public sphere and of collective interests that can only arise from an internal salutary shock, almost a psychodrama or a therapeutic emotional regression that gives way to the cathartic collective suffering found in the etymology of compassion: shared pathos.

With its interest in expanding its propositions beyond the traditional spaces of museums and commercial galleries, FFC has presented its work in a variety of contexts that serve to broaden its discourse, such as the Oberhausen Festival. Also, it currently takes active part in the Russian research and social action group Chto delat? (What is to be done?), which defines itself as a “platform in reconstruction.”