Mis United
Performance, Lyrics and concept by Lilibeth Cuenca
Music by Anders Christophersen
Costume design by Lise Klitten
Mis United is a complex contemporary character, constantly prepared to change directions and with no solid ground under her feet. Lilibeth will perform 6 new songs with a variation of genres electronica, punk, rock and hiphop with her own lyrics and like the ever changing Mis United her costumes changes for each new music piece.
Artistically Lilibeth is driven by a strong sense for the narrative and a curious search for new expressions. She uses text as her point of departure and adds visual elements to it –the scenography in the work, is the costumes she wears.
Lilibeth explores identity, gender, rituals, family structures and social situations in her work. Using anthropological and sociological points of departure, she investigates and describes different environments and sub-cultures, reflecting themes like cultural construction and ambiguous sexual symbolism. In documentary videos, performative video and live performances, Lilibeth uses and stages herself and her own multi-ethnic background, with a Philippine mother and a Danish father. She consciously uses an element of visual twistedess to make the stories more real and intimate.
In her earlier works EgoSong (2006) she personifies a glamorous diva presentng herself as the center of the universe; in Absolute Exotic (2005), dressed as an Hawaii girl, she delivers a hip hop song in Danish about her exotic Asian appearance currently not being very fashionable in Denmark; and in CockFight Song (2006), dressed up as a cock in a feather costume, she sings about being an objectified cock fight cock and/or woman in our macho society.
In February her first solo show in New York opened with the performance A Void on February 28th and later as an installation piece in the Renwick Gallery. Mis United is her latest performance she will perform by the closing down of A Void… Mis United was produced in February during a performance residency stay by Lilith Performance Studio in Malmö, Sweden. In June she will participate in the performance festival IN TRANSIT at Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin curated by André Lepecki. In 2007 she was included in for instance the large-scale group exhibition 'Global Feminisms' at Brooklyn Art Museum, NY.
Lilibeth Cuenca b. 1970 in Manila, The Philippines. Lives and works in Copenhagen. Studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen 1996-2002. Lilibeth is part of the current group exhibition 'Danskjävlar – a Swedish declaration of love' at the recently re-opened Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen.