DAVID DRAGAN
2024 
I,II&III video installation
15:00Diploma 24 ZHDK Based on experiencing a sequence of events (christening, marriage, and a burial) in the same day during my childhood, I am exploring reinterpreting these through a queer perspective. Romanian mythology surrounding birth, marriage, and death, involve songs, spells, and myths about angels, stars, and godmothers contributing to human life and departure from this world. Reinterpreting these myths and customs involves creating fictional events inspired by the original occurrences. The video installation shows a three part production with five performers, self created costumes and sculptures as well as poems and electronic music.

 
self embraces
performance
07:28Hauser&Wirth Zürich
for ‘Cathy Josefowitz. Release’ In our present reality, we find ourselves questioning how much of our true selves we unveil to the world being overstimulated by media. In my performance, I look at the nuances of intimacy and self-disclosure as a way to break the barrier of media automatisation in human affection. What remains of vulnerability in an algorithmically controlled environment and how much physicality do we require to transcend it?

 
fusion to cope
performance
12:38RUF, Vienna“If you wear beads, you cry in the tavern” is a Romanian saying which is a present statement when men explore their femininity. The performance narrates the story of struggling to fit into the conventional norm of religious society as well as its ideal perception of a man and a way to turn critique into pride. 

2023 
may I be a body
video installation
4:24The work interprets the story of the queer body through the metaphor of light and darkness. The initially static body endures the transformation between visibility and obscurity before stepping into the light and negotiating its relationship with it through self-determined movement.
a poem for the windvideo6:25The narrative unfolds through a journey, a performer’s passage through the various manifestations of the wind, each one carrying its own aura. The performer, in response, molds their body, embodying the wind’s mysteries and transmuting them into a visual poem. 
serenity of delusionperformance14:14Grote of Sint Janskerk, Schiedam
The central theme of the performance is whether we should seek to emulate an existing icon or strive to become our own icon in pursuit of a higher belief system. The dramaturgy follows dancers constructing maps of their origins through movement and interaction with each other, followed by moments of playing and self appreciation.
transmuting shadowsperformance10:08
 As I look back on the story of the shadow man from my childhood - a dark, ominous figure that seemed to follow me and move things around the house whenever I misbehaved - I have found a way to reinterpret it in a way that speaks to my personal experiences of trauma and queer identity through a ritual that brings this character to the present. By doing so, I embrace this scary figure as part of myself.  

a polluted mindperformance12:13 Inspired by oil spills in the oceans, the performance explores the idea of pollution both as a physical phenomenon and a psychological happening. Four dancers covered in oil, resemble the movement of water affected by pollution. Through the choreography, a parallel is drawn between the mind, the body and the water and how they function in connection with each other.
2022 wash awayvideo installation1:35 The installation approaches the theme of power structures in relation to followers. These two actors determine the balance of the piece. Distorted faces bounded by red cable look at the leader standing unstranded in front of them, a tv containing hands washing themselves with blood. 
 
for viewing the videos and documentations please contact the artist