CALL TO ARMS
2021CALL TO ARMS
Installation & Performance
Call To Arms is an artwork by PentHouss that uses dance, sound, light, and optical illusion to explore themes of governmental power, control, and social unrest. Six dancers dressed in riot police uniforms move through a series of crowd control tactics lifted directly from police training in a choreography that also draws from krumping - a dance style informed by street fighting. The action takes place in a mirrored hexagon, creating an infinite army before the viewer in its reflections. An exposé of the theatrics of order enforcement, Call To Arms reflects on the complex relationship between agents of power and the civilians they supposedly protect; on the instrumentalisation of fear; on the duality of “them” and “us” at street level.
Call To Arms premiered in October 2021 at Ugly Duck Bermondsey, London, with 17 sold-out shows.
The short film documenting the performance won first prize at Opyum Festival Paris 2022 and is permanently hosted on DIS.ART. Film presentation and artist talk was held at the 'Performance and State Violence conference' at Queen Mary University in June 2022. A book dedicated to the work was published by the Parisian publishing house C.C. Books in August 2022, launched at Reference Point 180 The Strand London UK. The film was also selected for exhibition in the Venice Arsenale as part of the Arte Laguna Prize 2023 and at Display Gallery in Prague CZ, for the group exhibition ‘Discipline and Punish’ in December 2023. In June 2024 Call To Arms was staged for a live audience for the second time with 22 sold-out shows at the CCA Museum.
Artists - Anna Lann and Yonathan Trichter at PentHouss
Creative partner & curator - Helen Neven
Choreographer - Ekin Bernay in collaboration with PentHouss
Choreography assistant - Yamina Lyara
Original score composition -Anna Lann at PentHouss
VFX & CGI - Ran Bensimon
Performers - Kailon Chery, Gilles Geissbühler, Jevan Howard- Jones, Jonathan “Chino” Martinez, Jonny Vieco, Chaldon Wil- liams
Set design - Lyndon Ogbourne at LSD Studio and PentHouss
Light design - Joshua Harriette and PentHouss
Still photography - Daniel Jackont
Video footage captured and shared by eaudience members during their visit -