A time in the need of voices - Voices of Pythia

The Syndicate of Creatures (tSoC) initiated an exhibition platform centred on artists’ statements and speech as a performative format.

Voices of Pythia consisted of sixteen events presented across three exhibition cycles: Autumn 2020, Spring 2021, and Autumn 2021.

The sixteen sessions or speeches performed by Suzette Gemzøe & Maria Ciccia Smidl, Rosa Marie Frang, Mycelium, Jessie Kleemann (GL/DK), Jonas Okholm Jensen, Jeanette Land Schou, Ana Pavlovic (SRB/DK), Eliyah Mesayer, Ursula Andkjær Olsen, C.Y. Frostholm, Skup Palet (Anna Ganslandt (SE) and Jan Pilgaard (SE/DK), Gréta Jónsdóttir (IS) & Erling T.V. Klingenberg (IS), Annika Lundgren (SE), Gitte Sætre (NO) & Frans Jacobi, Nanna Gro Henningsen, and Morten Gol.

Voices of Pythia offered artists a platform to address the crises of the present and articulate visions for the future. The result was a series of performative speeches—mad, rational, abstract, gestural, poetic, and sometimes shouted—engaging with both contemporary realities and possible futures.

The speeches addressed themes such as the climate crisis, postcolonialism, love, racism, animal rights, feminism, democracy, structural oppression, cultural struggle, and whatever else the participating artists felt urgently needed new language and new perspectives in a time marked by overlapping crises.

The performative speeches took place in the public space outside Office of Emergency on Vesterbrogade in Copenhagen. Following each live event, the work was documented and exhibited at Office of Emergency as a video installation for two weeks. These video documentations can now be experienced through the online exhibition platform Voices of Pythia.

Pythia was the collective name given to the women who served as oracles at Delphi for nearly 900 years, often speaking against the dominant powers' visions of the world and the future. Inspired by this legacy, the invited artists were asked to embody Pythia—the Oracle of Delphi—and to bring forth new visions.

Drawing inspiration from Speakers' Corner, the artists addressed the city itself amid the bustle of afternoon traffic. Their speeches became powerful public interventions, making the artists’ voices and propositions all the more urgent and relevant.

Voices of Pythia was initiated and curated by Nanna Gro Henningsen and Signe Vad from The Syndicate of Creatures.

To see the documentation videos go to the Voices of Pythia exhibition platform here: www.voicesofpythia.dk

Voices of Pythia was supported by: