‘Baci / Kiss / Kusjes’ by Guerrilla Performing / Roccioletti.com
About this activity.
From 1 to 31 July 2025, Guerrilla Performing, an artist collective from Italy, will exhibit a photo of a performance ‘Kiss / Baci’ in the window gallery ‘De Prachtvink’ at the Vinkhuizen shopping centre, Platinalaan 505a, 9743 GZ Groningen, HOLLAND.
‘Baci / Kiss / Kusjes’ is a photographic report (Camera (4" f 22 iso 64) of a joint performance by the artist collective Guerrilla Performing. The print work is by printshop Copy 76 in Paddepoel. The collective used kisses and living bodies of people in the performance. The artists asked people to participate in duos and kiss each other. The participants then made their own additions and those who beheld the photos of the performance responded. The kiss and the interpersonal connection were thus passed on. The performance grew from a deconstruction and reconstruction of an anthropological, historical, cultural, social and individual gesture.
Kissing is a phenomenon that is very old, but not universally human. The Indo-Europeans already liked kissing. The Italian ‘baci’ goes back to the Indo-European ‘bu’. The ancients also started writing about kissing early on. Troels Pank Arbøll and Sophie Lund Radmussen showed in a 2023 study that clay tablets from 2,500 BCE already mentioned sharing kisses with a romantic intention. Incidentally, the study also covered sexually transmitted diseases, including through kissing. Today, the cold sore is still notorious for this.
Kissing initially appeared sporadically in art. A famous early 'Kiss' is Giotti's from 1305, the meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate. From the 19th century onwards, kissing became much more common and new media emerged. For example, Eadweard Muybridge had two ladies kiss each other in a photo and in 1896 the first film kiss took place in the short film 'The Kiss'. At the time, it caused a bit of a stir, but nowadays, with the interruption of corona, people are happily licking each others lips and tongues, because: kissing is fun.
Guerrilla Performing is an art collective from Italy around the performer and art organizer Andrea Roccioletti (1979) from Turin and Rossella Ferrero, photographer and visual artist also from Turin. The collective investigates the human body in relation to itself, other bodies, things and space. The company organises performances very regularly, but also takes part in exhibitions. The group posts the reports of their findings on their website https://roccioletti.com
The window gallery is an exhibition space that can only be viewed from the outside, but then 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The gallery is lit up until 23:00.
Every month a new work of art by an artist is exhibited.
Raamgalerie De Prachtvink.
Raamgalerie De Prachtvink is een 24-uurs galerie aan Platinalaan 505a bij Winkelcentrum Vinkhuizen. De galerie heeft als specialiteit internationale mail art.
Location.
Raamgalerie De Prachtvink
Platinalaan 505
9743GZ Groningen
tel 050-2302991
prachtvink.blogspot.com/