Performance ‘Cut Piece’ by Nelleke Cloosterman

Nelleke Cloosterman invites members of the public on the opening night of her solo exhibition ‘Between What Is Ours’ to cut a piece of Song of Invisible Boundaries, 2024, to be sent on to a person they love. For the artist, the performance speaks to the continuing culture of violence against women. Which in recent years has been amplified by the rise of incel ideology and resurgence in the policing of women's bodies. To Cloosterman this performance becomes an act of reclamation. What on surface level could be seen as an act of violence, is instead turned on its head, as a heartfelt gesture to a loved one.

In a Song of Invisible Boundaries, 2024 three sisters, hands clasped, dance across separate planes. There is the sense that between one move and the next they might slip between these boundaries, pulling the other behind and seamlessly exchanging places, all while remaining united by their linked hands. The “Three graces” Zeus’ daughters in Greek mythology, keep a similar dance in their depictions, interconnected. The ‘graces’ are known for the gifts they bestow upon humanity; mirth, elegance, youth and beauty. These things, like bubbles, should be fleeting, but there seems to be an underlying desire from Cloosterman to do away with temporality. To allow the sisters to keep an eternal dance. It feels appropriate then, that this would become the basis of a performance by the same name. Inspired by Yoko Ono’s 2003 rendition of Cut Piece.

(Excerpt of the exhibition text written by Olivia Rumsey, 2025)

‘Between What Is Ours’, 12.06.2025 — 19.07.2025, PLUS-ONE Projects

Song of Invisible Boundaries, 2024