WALK OF SHAME (WOS) is an artist collective based in Bergen, Norway. WOS explores the relationship between performative and social spaces by means of visual landscapes and interactive meetings between performer and spectator. The collective was established in 2012 and has been working site-specifically since 2015, aiming to meet audiences outside the already established physical contexts of spectatorship. WOS’s visual expression combines elements such as clubbing culture, natural landscapes, trash culture, and consumerism.
WALK OF SHAME consists of founding members Hanne Maren Meldahl, Gulli Kristina Sekse, Karoline Skuseth and the local communities we are surrounded by. Anna Borcherding was previously part of the collective. WOS’ members have their background in theater studies and fine arts at the University of Bergen, Norway, the Finnish Academy for Fine Arts in Helsinki, Dramatics at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and Institut für Angewandte Theaterwissenschaft in Giessen, Germany
OUR ARTISTIC VALUES
Exploring a state of shamelessness
WOS seeks to challenge the established hegemony of genres across disciplines such as visual arts, performance, live arts, and concerts. Our artistic mission focuses largely on encouraging the audience to consider why and how one looks at art. We wish to introduce the public to totalistic experiences by providing access to a universe that allows for critical reflection, imagination and a state of shamelessness.
WHAT WE DO
WOS looks into the complex relationship between the individual and the collective, seeking to expose the mechanisms at play when the individual becomes aware of her existence as seen through the presence of “the others”. Does a person’s identity remain the same in a variation of social spaces? Who determines when we are to act like an audience in a performance context? These questions are transferred to the foundation of our works, which relies on giving each individual spectator the freedom to choose her own path. We juxtapose the notions of freedom vs. captivity, responsibility vs. abandonment, advancement vs. standstill, plastic vs. organic. Should you not fit into what is considered the appropriate level of these divides, you risk ending up in the socially constructed zone known as SHAME. As artists we reduce ourselves to pawns in this game – exposed with all our flaws and faults. The name WALK OF SHAME invokes a desire to accompany the audience on a journey towards un-education, seeking to reach a level of collective shamelessness – a shameless one-night stand, if you will.