Anna Sörenson Rydh

Your Application is Pending- Sweden, 2013

Based on the piece ‘Genuine Government Issue’ I constitutionalized my feeling of governmental involvement in a performance called ‘Your Application is Pending’. With my 20 new Departments I had the freedom to make myself the head, and I did – I was head of all of them. During this performance the audience were invited to my temporary office at Cigarrvägen 13 in Hökarängen, an independent venue in a suburb of Stockholm. The audience was then able to apply to any of the 20 new Departments followed by an interview for approval. I interviewed them one by one. After the questioning I approved or denied their applications. The application forms could be found on set as well as the wall of Departments. In ‘Your Application is Pending’ I took on the role as the head of my own departments, dressed in a suit. With a custom made rubber stamp I investigated the absurdity of a questioning. I explored the role as the one holding the power but I also invited the audience to play with me and laugh at the sometimes-absurd authority of department power.

Departments to apply to:

1. Department of Defense no.1

2. Department of Defense no.2

3. Department of Defense no.3

4. Department of Wool

5. Department of Love

6. Department of Despair

7. Department of Horror

8. Department of Romantic Fools

9. Department of Desire

10. Department of Good Old Friends

11. Department of Poets