Ötza and the Open-Ended Becoming of the World (2024)

Cryodesiccated fanfiction entrepreneur Ötza presented a reading of two new chapters of fanfiction at Woonhuis Ateliers and Arti et Amicitiae. With some small surgical enhancements (thank you Dr. Zizmor), some new custom couture and renewed commit- ment to rewrite her lore, Ötza will share her inner workings with an intimate audience.

Ötza was invited by The Couch to do a three-month virtual residency between April and June 2024, where she prolifically expressed a compilation of her fanfiction writings. Twelve new chapters were developed during this residency, which one can read (alongside some pre-existing chapters) online on thecouch.hethem.nl. The chapters read during the performances came from this new syllabus of writings.

Performance and writing: Levi van Gelder
Costume and styling: Leila El Alaoui
Tailoring: Eef Hietbrink
Styling collaboration: Isabelle Emmy
SFX prosthetics: Suzanne Breur
Airbrush costume: Ruperto Herrador
Photography: Nikola Lamburov
Soundscape: Gediminas Žygus
Many thanks to: Sanne van Balen, Joseph Band and De Ateliers

Ötza and the Open-Ended Becoming of the World on The Couch

(Woonhuis Ateliers, Amsterdam — performance — 35 min.)

Ötza, Levi van Gelder

Ötza photographed by Nikola Lamburov

Snippet from performance “Ötza and the Open-Ended Becoming of the World” (2024) — Documented by Arvo Leo

Ötza and the Open-Ended Becoming of the World, Levi van Gelder

Still from documentation of performance “Ötza and the Open-Ended Becoming of the World” (2024) — Documented by Arvo Leo

Ötza, Levi van Gelder

Ötza photographed by Nikola Lamburov

Ötza and the Open-Ended Becoming of the World (2024)

Cryodesiccated fanfiction entrepreneur Ötza presented a reading of two new chapters of fanfiction at Woonhuis Ateliers and Arti et Amicitiae. With some small surgical enhancements (thank you Dr. Zizmor), some new custom couture and renewed commit- ment to rewrite her lore, Ötza will share her inner workings with an intimate audience.

Ötza was invited by The Couch to do a three-month virtual residency between April and June 2024, where she prolifically expressed a compilation of her fanfiction writings. Twelve new chapters were developed during this residency, which one can read (alongside some pre-existing chapters) online on thecouch.hethem.nl. The chapters read during the performances came from this new syllabus of writings.

Performance and writing: Levi van Gelder
Costume and styling: Leila El Alaoui
Tailoring: Eef Hietbrink
Styling collaboration: Isabelle Emmy
SFX prosthetics: Suzanne Breur
Airbrush costume: Ruperto Herrador
Photography: Nikola Lamburov
Soundscape: Gediminas Žygus
Many thanks to: Sanne van Balen, Joseph Band and De Ateliers

Ötza and the Open-Ended Becoming of the World on The Couch

(Woonhuis Ateliers, Amsterdam — performance — 35 min.)

Ötza, Levi van Gelder

Ötza photographed by Nikola Lamburov

Snippet from performance “Ötza and the Open-Ended Becoming of the World” (2024) — Documented by Arvo Leo

Ötza and the Open-Ended Becoming of the World, Levi van Gelder

Still from documentation of performance “Ötza and the Open-Ended Becoming of the World” (2024) — Documented by Arvo Leo

Ötza, Levi van Gelder

Ötza photographed by Nikola Lamburov

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