In the Vaulted Cellar of the Cabaret Voltaire, entered through an open maw, and transporting guests to other worlds, stands one of the monstrous heads of Monster Chetwynd. Inside this head is a small exhibition, a prelude to Chetwynd’s artistic occupation of the Artists’Bar from August 25, 2023, to end of July 2024. Chetwynd’s works, be they exuberant performances or painterly installations, brim with optimistic absurdity and profound comedy; they are comprehensible to all yet rich in cultural references. With the do-it-yourself character, the processivity, and the humor, Chetwynd’s art connects to the heritage of Dada.

At the center of the exhibition «Profusion Protrusion» is Il Tetto, which moves from Frankfurt’s SCHIRN to the Cabaret Voltaire, the venue where Dada originated. The gigantic mask was first shown in Bergen in 2017, where it was worn by performers sing-screaming ecological songs. Such re-stagings are programmatic in Chetwynd’s work. Many of her works, made from simple materials such as cardboard and fabric, are recycled, and developed further and incorporated into altered contexts on site. Always inherent in the work is collective development, whether in the process of making, or the performative activations that will take place at Cabaret Voltaire both on June 9 (with a one-hour disco) as well as August 25 and September 2.

Chetwynd draws her inspiration from a variety of sources, including film and television, literature, music, antiquity, art history, and philosophy. Il Tetto refers to different cultural eras and their genres: The stone masks of ancient Rome come to mind, as does the Christian motif of the «hell mouth». The «gate to hell» was already found as a passage or entrance, for example, in the Italian sculpture garden «Sacro Bosco» from the 16th century. However, Il Tetto also bears witness to years of investigation into the iconography of faces and masks, which can be seen in absurd overlaps, for example in the film Zardoz (1974) by John Boormann, where antiquity and sci-fi meet. Or in the film Satyricon by Fellini (1969), with its roots in the scurrilous text written in the time of Nero. The sculpture also pays tribute to early Christian plays, when the theater was dormant, sets were built, and stories were reenacted outside of churches. The paintings of Giotto are thought to depict the sets. Additionally, «hell mouths» painted on wood from this era have been preserved and serve as a major source of inspiration for Monster Chetwynd.

For «Phoenix Philosophy Café» Ilaria Vinci took as her starting point a particular type of fireplace that has its origin in the south of Italy in the beginning of 1900: A kind of living alcove where people gather, share stories, debate, eat, drink, or play together. The brick pillows, the flame lamp sculptures and the partially burnt furniture, which the artist created through skillful paint effects, underline the reference to the fireplace. Phoenix, the mythological bird figure, can be seen throughout the exhibition