Berlin and London-based Olivia Plender will present two different but interrelated projects which examine nationalist tendencies in her country of origin as well as in Denmark.

Machine Shall be the Slave of Man, but We Will Not Slave for the Machine (2008) is an installation bringing together Plender’s research into a British youth movement called the ‘Kindred of the Kibbo Kift’ which spanned from the 1920s to the 1950s. For Terms of Belonging, Plender will present Bring Back Robin Hood (2008), a video component of this project in the style of a travel log. The cyclical narrative of this video moves back and forth in history tracing her research into the Kibbo Kift. Plender highlights the recurrence of economic crises with reference to neo-colonialism and a nationalistic idealisation of the past, the latter personified by figures such as Robin Hood.

During the last two weeks of August, Plender will conduct a survey of Copenhageners; interviewing people about how they behave in groups, and how they construct their singular identity in relation to larger group identities. She is interested in examining the legacy of social democracy in Denmark, in terms of how people imagine themselves in relation to society and the various collectives that they also inhabit, and how this is changing in relation to neo-liberalism. Then, Plender will channel her findings into a questionnaire, the Audience Survey, which will be conducted during the Forum on September 3rd.