THE PERFORMING PRO ARTS COMMONS PROJECT
THE PERFORMING PRO ARTS COMMONS PROJECT
THE PERFORMING PRO ARTS COMMONS PROJECT
A central concern of my artistic practice is the critical reexamination of intellectual property (IP) as a structural force that governs not only the circulation of artistic labor but the very conditions under which it is produced, claimed, and shared. I approach IP not merely as a legal mechanism, but as a curatorial terrain, one through which power, authorship, and value are contested and reimagined.
In 2020, under the collective pseudonym Dadais Americanus, I co-authored and formally registered Performing Pro Arts COMMONS (PPAC) with the U.S. Copyright Office. This project, conceived as a transmedia performance and legal experiment, operates simultaneously as an artwork and an IP framework.
PPAC establishes a shared intellectual space that enables artists and collectives to collaborate within a non-proprietary, rights-sharing model: one that resists the extractive logic of traditional authorship and foregrounds communal creation and mutual accountability.
Looking ahead, I am invested in advancing curatorial models that integrate redistributive mechanisms, moral clauses, and collective governance into the fabric of cultural production. My goal is to activate curatorial practice as a space of legal imagination, where ownership is rethought, value is co-produced, and the infrastructure of art is oriented toward equity and the commons.
THE REFRAMING PROJECT
THE PERFORMING PRO ARTS COMMONS PROJECT
THE PERFORMING PRO ARTS COMMONS PROJECT
At its core, REFRAMING critically examines the legal, economic, and systemic forces that structure cultural production, advancing an alternative model of artistic collaboration rooted in equity, mutuality, and shared wealth. This curatorial framework dismantles entrenched hierarchies and patriarchal binaries, foregrounding experimental methodologies that empower artists and reconfigure the mechanisms of intellectual and economic control.
Operating as a dynamic and evolving research driven platform, REFRAMING integrates site specific interventions with long-term initiatives that redefine cultural authorship and sustainability:
Public Engagement: Through exhibitions, performances, critical discourse, and participatory programming, REFRAMING invites communities to actively interrogate the ethics of cultural production, labor, and ownership, fostering collective agency in the redefinition of artistic value and agency.
Strategic Partnerships: Collaborating with institutions and organizations committed to justice and equity, REFRAMING leverages interdisciplinary alliances to amplify impact, drive policy change, and cultivate an ecosystem of shared governance.
Dadais Americanus Productions
THE PERFORMING PRO ARTS COMMONS PROJECT
NO Exit: Duality is Overrated at SCOPE Gallery, Berlin DE
Dadais Americanus Productions with offices in U.S.A. and Europe, commissions and produces transmedia collectively copyrighted performative and embodied art, done under the pseudonym of Dadais Americanus and with the intent to transform points of conflict into co-created IP Art, thus bringing healing attention to the alienation that exists between artists and cultural producers and the commercialization of art.
NO Exit: Duality is Overrated at SCOPE Gallery, Berlin DE
NO Exit: Duality is Overrated Public Program at SCOPE Gallery, Berlin DE
NO Exit: Duality is Overrated at SCOPE Gallery, Berlin DE
January 5 – January 23, 2024
In her transmedia project, Duality is Overrated, Ivanova collaborates with artists and cultural producers in Berlin to challenge power structures and rethink the role of intellectual property in a rapidly evolving society.
Inspired by Sartre’s iconic play No Exit, Ivanova’s experiment, NO Exit: Duality is Overrated, brings intellectual property into the spotlight of a provocative drama, exploring the friction between individual aspirations and the collective will. Echoing Sartre’s famous line, “Hell is other people,” she leads audiences to confront the complexities of human relationships and societal pressures, all within the urban performance space of SCOPE.
Act 1: The Theatre of Law transforms Scope's Project Space into a stage for active participation. Here, Ivanova illuminates the inequities inherent in the capitalist system, particularly for working-class artists. She forges new connections between artist, community, and institution, transforming the space into a living dialogue that dismantles traditional hierarchies, challenges power structures, and redefines our understanding of authority and collaboration.
In Act 2: The Libidinal Economy, held in Scope's Cinema Room, the focus shifts to the commercialization of artistic labor. Ivanova dismantles the notion that success is defined by finished products, redirecting attention to the processes and labor behind creation. By reframing this perspective, she disrupts established market practices and opens a conversation about the value of intellectual labor, forcing us to question the commodification of art, power, and capital.
With NO Exit: Duality is Overrated, Ivanova invites audiences on a journey that blurs boundaries, fosters introspection, and imagines new possibilities. Her work is a call to rethink our relationships—not only with intellectual property, but with one another, sparking dialogue that leads toward collective liberation. Through her collaborative, multi-media storytelling, Ivanova disrupts the norms of the art economy, carving new paths for shared creativity and ownership.
NO Exit: Duality is Overrated Public Program at SCOPE Gallery, Berlin DE
NO Exit: Duality is Overrated Public Program at SCOPE Gallery, Berlin DE
NO Exit: Duality is Overrated Public Program at SCOPE Gallery, Berlin DE
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
19:00 - 21:00
THIS IS HOW YOU MAKE ME FEEL SOMETIMES
Christian Borrelli, Anna Stallone, Barcode People: Qihao Liang and Tong Shu, and Natalia Ivanova
Friday, January 19th, 2024
19:00 - 21:00
“The Commons: of Friends & Lovers” reading and participatory performance with authors Natalia Ivanova and Marc Herbst
Saturday, January 20th, 2024
17:00 - 19:00
Censoring Palestine: Screening and Q&A with Dan Glass, Jad Salfiand Tobias den Haan
Join us for a screening of Censoring Palestine: The Weaponization of Anti-Semitism by Dan Glass, followed by Germany's Palestine Problem, directed byJad Salfiti. A post-screening Q&A with Dan Glass (author, artist, activist) and Tobias den Haan (researcher at the European Legal Support Center) will explore the challenges artists and activists face in standing in solidarity with anti-war movements.
Sunday, January 21st, 2024
12:00 - 14:00
Connecting the world takes every one of us, 2021
Video with sound, 6 min
As an artist and researcher, Benjamin Gerdes explores the technological infrastructures that shape contemporary communication, mobility, and social life.
Barbie Hacked My Life Because She Wants to Be Me
NO Exit: Duality is Overrated Public Program at SCOPE Gallery, Berlin DE
NO Exit: Duality is Overrated Public Program at SCOPE Gallery, Berlin DE
Barbie Hacked My Life Because She Wants to Be Me is an exploration of feminism, identity, and the politics of technology. By generating and subverting AI versions of Barbie, I confront how algorithms reproduce stereotypes, fetishize women’s bodies, and reinforce racial and gender bias. The project critiques identity profiling and the commodification of the self in the digital age, exposing how personal data is harvested, repurposed, and sold as simulations of who we are.
Drawing on Situationist strategies of détournement, I reprogram Barbie as a counter-symbol—turning a global icon of femininity into a site of resistance. The work destabilizes entrenched narratives of race, gender, and intellectual property, questioning the blurred boundaries between reality and simulation, freedom and control. Barbie Hacked My Life is both a critique and an act of reclamation, pushing viewers to reconsider how identity is constructed, consumed, and resisted in the age of AI.
Barbie Hacked My Life Because She Wants to Be Me
