Polina Kanis’s solo exhibition, Politics of Rotation, curated by Katia Krupennikova, aims to analyze the connection between sexualized bodies and state power, raising meaningful discussions on body politics. The project originated as a durational performance, which took place in 2022 in Moscow—Kanis worked for three months as a pole dancer in a Moscow strip club.
Saturday 18 October: panel discussion, moderated by Katia Krupennikova and Polina Kanis . The panel explores body politics and practices of control in the Dutch context, examining how bodily experience can resist power — not only through obedience but through defiance.
How do we prevent authoritarian power from taking hold? Which bodies feel vulnerable in the Netherlands, and how can they resist? What clichés and rules are imposed on vulnerable communities — such as migrants or non-white groups — amid the rise of far-right politics? Reflecting on extreme examples from authoritarian Russia, the discussion connects these dynamics to the growing far-right movements in the Netherlands.
Featuring: Domitilla (Domi) Olivieri — Assistant Professor, Media and Culture Studies, Utrecht University; Bear Silver — performer, activist, and educator creating post-porn films that challenge repressive politics and expand queer histories ; WERKER Collective — Amsterdam-based collective working across labour, ecofeminism, and LGBTQ+ movements, producing media from below with cultural workers, students, and undocumented migrants.
The project is kindly supported by Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Niemeijer Fonds, Mondriaan Fonds. Het Nederlands Letterenfonds and Carta 24’ Festival.
Read the full text here: Politics of Rotation press release
