Dante Buu’s “thigh high” reaches for the fine, enduring line between the obvious and the insinuated, between the private and the public, between attention and ignorance. In the passages of time, the exhibition skirts the question: and you, do you also feel constantly that one side of you is seen, whilst the other side remains hidden? 

Dante Buu is the only artist from a Muslim background so far to come out publicly as gay in the Balkans. Albeit a pioneer freed from the suffering of form and paving the way for generations ahead, the position he is in doesn’t come without its fair share of intimidation and persecution. Rather than aggressively passing back these experiences and the feeling of self-alienation, in contrast his practice is conceived as a journey of love and resistance. Blurring the boundaries of the autobiographical and the lives of others, his art is fluid in medium.

In “thigh high”, Buu presents a new long-durational performance which he will execute with optimal physical effort for 27 days, 5 hours per day. A selection of his sculptural embroidery pieces receives their debut in Berlin; at first glance, they divulge no painful revelations, yet their delicacy and high aesthetic embody the emotional value and labour of the artist—symbolised especially in their handmade quality and titles crafted from his poetry. The exhibition is framed by a series of drawings on watercolour paper: their forms generated with felt-tip pens and the artist’s saliva in his attempts to revive the remains of their colour from the fading of time’s disregard.

At first glance, the exhibited works seem miles away from each other, yet Dante’s “thigh high” opens up a playful experience of time and duration: Time embodied in the creation of an artwork, as a transforming agent in the passing of memories, dreams and societal revolutions, time as the experience of an embroidered textile or time as the body of a performance.

Dante Buu (Rožaje, Montenegro) is an artist, storyteller and performer. His works and performances have been shown in numerous exhibitions and festivals worldwide, including: and you—do you die happy?, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin ; Weekend Lovers, Dim, Belgrade; NEXUS 1, TBA Festival – PICA, Portland; Careful with that Axe, Eugene, AKT Art Space, Kyiv; I do not want my Lover to go to Work, Cultural Centre Tobacco 001, Ljubljana; Universal Hospitality 2, Centre for Contemporary Art FUTURA, Prague. Dante Buu lives and works between Rožaje and Berlin.He is a grantee of the MRI Martin Roth-Initiative. The exhibition is kindly supported by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe – Department Culture.