Authenticity – what is that nowadays? In Project XXX (2026), Nelly Dansen (Nelke Mast, 1998) explores the boundaries between performance and reality. Dansen positions herself as an observer, examining subcultures, social dynamics and human behaviour from a feminist perspective. This approach lies at the core of her practice, which sharply reflects the spirit of the times.
Initially, Mast developed her alter ego Nelly Dansen through a focus on ‘the bimbo’. By embracing this disparaging stereotype, the artist challenged conventional ideas of femininity. Project XXX subsequently grew out of her interest in the blurred boundaries between reality and staging. In the video installation, she presents her 27th birthday party at the Jimmy Woo club in Amsterdam, which became the basis for a performance-like film experiment. The evening functioned as both a real celebration and as a staged scenario, revolving around a central question: who is the real Nelly Dansen? Guests came dressed as lookalikes, detectives and a news reporter. Filmed from multiple perspectives, the individuals dissolve into a single collective performance. At the same time, a Michel Foucault-like figure – somewhere between nature documentary voiceover and a YouTube commentator – observes the party from his bedroom.
Project XXX presents the club as a microcosm of the systems that shape us, in which self-expression, performance, critique and spectacle are inextricably intertwined. This semi-fictional situation extends into the exhibition space, as characters from the film move through Prospects in person – further blurring the boundary between fiction and reality.
Text: Esther Darley