What if Women Ruled the World?, 2017
Live performance, 120 min.
“It is two and a half minutes to midnight, the clock is ticking, global danger looms. Wise public officials should act immediately, guiding humanity away from the brink. If they do not, wise citizens must step forward and lead the way.“ (The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
Arriving at a moment of unprecedented worldwide flux, Yael Bartana’s performative project What if Women Ruled the World? brings some of the world’s best strategic minds together to help avert impending disaster.
The experiment uses a fictional scenario to examine real life issues. Each night, a group of actors playing the female government of a fictional country meet with a group of international female experts in a replica of Dr Strangelove’s War Room: defence advisers, soldiers, peace activists, humanitarians, politicians and leading thinkers. Together they will spend the evening attempting to solve the global emergency, and stop the Doomsday Clock from reaching midnight.
Commissioned and produced by Manchester International Festival, European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017 and Volksbühne Berlin.
Photo by Birgit Kaulfuß