Serve and Protect

How are protest and performance connected? Direct Action Theater (D.A.T.) combines art and activism.

In 2022 and 2023, Østfold International Theatre is exploring artivism as a form of action, a.o. through a collaboration with the international performance group D.A.T. Their work includes both interventions in public space and more traditional theater performances.

In their series Serve and Protect, a variation on the motto of the North American police, D.A.T. uses riot police uniforms as their main visual and symbolic material. By placing the uniforms in absurd or unusual situations, the artists playfully question both power relations and the status of the police as an institution.

The play with symbolic values is used as a powerful tool in D.A.T.’s public interventions, which are often based on current socio-political or environmental issues. This is how D.A.T. wants to truly “serve and protect” people, nature, pleasure, beauty and life itself!

Throughout 2022 and 2023, you will be able to experience several unannounced and announced performances by D.A.T. The group is responsible for the artistic content and for their actions in public spaces. The collaboration with ØIT will culminate in a stage performance in 2023.

Follow ØIT’s channels for updated info on the group’s activities or them what/who needs their services and protection through their own facebook or instagram

Foto: Jan Hajdelak Husták / Direct Action Theatre

The project is supported by

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