Unshackled

Unshackled (2016) was a performative drawing developed by Daniela Paes Leão and Merel Willemsen in response to an invitation from de Appel Art Centre’s Curatorial Programme in Amsterdam. It took place within the public programme of the exhibition Rien ne va plus? Faites vos jeux! curated by Laura Amann, Kateryna Filyuk, and Alessandra Troncone.

At the time, the institution was undergoing an internal crisis that had led to the erosion of the students’ programme. In parallel, the graduating curators were preparing a final exhibition that critically addressed the institution’s withdrawal of responsibility. Against this backdrop, Unshackled emerged from a series of conversations with students and participants, transforming shared frustration into a collective act of articulation.

During the performance, a 3 x 3 metre drawing was created live in the exhibition space while a text was read aloud. The text reflected on the creeping neoliberal logic shaping cultural institutions, where education, care, and criticality are often subordinated to managerial and market imperatives. The act of drawing became both gesture and testimony: a visual unfolding of constraint and resistance, staged within the very structure under critique.