Rehearsing Revolution

With Rehearsing Revolution, the international artist collective Authentic Boys made the phenomenon of revolution a personal subject for young people. Through a workshop series, the group set the goal of confronting teenagers with their own “revolutionary potential”, activating their authentic artistic power and capturing it in a work of art.

The teenage years are pre-eminently a phase of change. Body and spirit undergo a fast transformation and teenagers not only rebel against their surroundings, parents and school, but also against their own childhood identity.

Rehearsing Revolution acted as a “training ground” to practice free expression and conveys the necessity of active citizenship. In the project, Authentic Boys adhered to a double strategy: as artists and also teachers, their goal was to get the young adults to deal with art and to enable them to have an artistic experience in this context.

The publication ‘Rehearsing Revolution – a performative training ground’ collects a selection of the portrait photos that were taken during the project in Rotterdam. The disguises and face masks are made by the pupils themselves in just a few minutes time. Therefore the project participants clearly act as co-authors of the work.