You are VARIATIONS: performance
Line up: Anchan/Anna Daučíková & Christina Della Giustina

YOU ARE VARIATIONS: Anchan/Anna Daučíková and Christina Della Giustina is a multi-chapter exhibition and performance project that traces the artists’ collaboration since the mid-1990s. Its different components explore how their evolving relationship has shaped their engagement with embodied language, non-binary thinking, and radical openness.

Following an exhibition at Vleeshal in Middelburg earlier this year, from October 31 till November 8 2026, If I Can't Dance will be hosting the project's second chapter: an archival presentation that foregrounds the artists’ experimentations with performance as a feminist and queer methodology.

As part of this presentation, on the opening day, the artists will present a performance which is both the result of and, at the same time, just one phase within their ongoing dialogue. As the sun starts to set, they will give presence to something that was, is and will be. The live event is a continuation of a series of encounters between the two artists exploring ways to share thoughts, feelings, and states of being, as well as their reactions to the internal and external processes that constantly impinge upon each and every one of us. The keyword is listening.

BIOGRAPHIES

Anchan/Anna Daučíková (b. 1950, Bratislava. Lives and works in Prague) is an artist working with photography, video, and performance. Alongside their artistic work, they are a co-founder and activist in several women’s NGOs, most notably the Slovak feminist organization and journal Aspekt, and in the 1990s they have been a spokesperson for LGBT rights in Slovakia. Their academic career includes teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.

Christina Della Giustina (b. 1965, Switzerland. Lives and works in Amsterdam) is an artist and pedagogue. She completed her doctoral studies at Slade School of Fine Art, University College London and is lecturer and course leader of the Master of Fine Art at HKU, Utrecht. Her artistic research practice deals with relationships and generates trans-disciplinary collaborations across scientific, spiritual, and sound-based modes of working.

CREDITS

you are vARIAtions is co-curated by Sara Giannini and Martha Jager and is part of a long-term commission initiated by If I Can’t Dance together with Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art.

[ID: Black and white photograph documenting a performance. In A dimly lit exhibition space, a person sis tanding in front of a bright rectangular projection on a wall. The projection displays text, which is partially projected on the person’s  torso. On the right, three people stand in shadow, watching the scene. The photograph has a grainy texture and a dark colour palette, with a strong contrast between the illuminated projection and the surrounding space.]