CALL TO ARMS

2024
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 emerged in 2020 amidst global protests and COVID-19 lockdowns, including those in Chile, Hong Kong, Lebanon, and the global response to George Floyd's murder. Protests for Ukraine and Palestine further amplified calls for international solidarity and justice, highlighting the interconnected nature of global struggles against oppression and violence.


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 2023, following the Israeli judicial reform protests that sparked widespread rallies, we were invited to show the work at the CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo, supported by two major regional arts funds. The work was staged in June 2024 with 22 sold-out shows.


Artists - Anna Lann and Yonathan Trichter at PentHouss
Curator - Guy Bernard Reichman
Choreographer - Ekin Bernay in collaboration with PentHouss
Score - Anna Lann at PentHouss
Performers - Yotam Baruch, Gal Gorfung, Tom Nisim, Reches Itzhaky, Ronen Braunstein, Harel Grazutis
Set design - Michael Sabo and PentHouss
Light design - Hagai Ron and PentHouss
Photography - Tomer Appelbaum for Ha’aretz News, Daniel Jackont

Footage captured by audience during perfromances in June 2024