Ötza at the Rijksmuseum (2023)

In May Ötza was invited to read her fanfiction at the Rijksmuseum. She was very excited because she knew it from The Fault in Our Stars and her friend Sarah Jessica visited the Vermeer exhibition the week before and said it was really nice. They unfortunately wouldn’t let her sell her merch at the Rijksmuseum gift shop, but they did arrange a private viewing of the Vermeer exhibition for Ötza. It was really hard for her to see the paintings because they were really small and her eyes decayed approximately 5300 years ago, but she loved the vibes and especially the painting  ‘Girl Reading a Letter By an Open Window’, because she can read and write as well.

Ötza at the Rijksmuseum was shown during Ötza, Ontologically Speaking at Mutter Amsterdam in September-October 2023.

Costume and styling: Leila El Alaoui
DOP: Kyulim Kim
Editing: Levi van Gelder
SFX prosthetics: Suzanne Breur
Airbrush costume: Ruperto Herrador
Special thanks to: Titty Magazine and Cathelijne Blok

Funded by Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst

(video — 6:12)

Ötza at the Rijksmuseum, Levi van Gelder, 2023
Levi van Gelder
Levi van Gelder
Levi van Gelder
Levi van Gelder
Levi van Gelder

Ötza at the Rijksmuseum (2023)

In May Ötza was invited to read her fanfiction at the Rijksmuseum. She was very excited because she knew it from The Fault in Our Stars and her friend Sarah Jessica visited the Vermeer exhibition the week before and said it was really nice. They unfortunately wouldn’t let her sell her merch at the Rijksmuseum gift shop, but they did arrange a private viewing of the Vermeer exhibition for Ötza. It was really hard for her to see the paintings because they were really small and her eyes decayed approximately 5300 years ago, but she loved the vibes and especially the painting  ‘Girl Reading a Letter By an Open Window’, because she can read and write as well.

Ötza at the Rijksmuseum was shown during Ötza, Ontologically Speaking at Mutter Amsterdam in September-October 2023.

Costume and styling: Leila El Alaoui
DOP: Kyulim Kim
Editing: Levi van Gelder
SFX prosthetics: Suzanne Breur
Airbrush costume: Ruperto Herrador
Special thanks to: Titty Magazine and Cathelijne Blok

Funded by Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst

(video — 6:12)

Ötza at the Rijksmuseum, Levi van Gelder, 2023
Levi van Gelder
Levi van Gelder
Levi van Gelder
Levi van Gelder
Levi van Gelder
LEVI VAN GELDER (1995) — ARTIST
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS — MFA DESIGN SANDBERG INSTITUTE ('18-'20) — DE ATELIERS ('24-'25)

Through working in performance, writing, sculpture and video work, Levi explores fanfiction as a tool for queer resistance and counterfactual reclamation of histories and fictions. By writing, performing and making as Ötza (5300 year old mummified fanfiction entrepreneur and drag adaptation of Ötzi the Iceman) Levi creates a subversive, post-historical rendering of the Neolithic mummy, queering (pre)history in a meta-textualized account of misrepresentation, questioning and resisting claims to truth with quick-witted storytelling and playful critique. Levi lives and works in Amsterdam.
Levi van Gelder