Beck+Col are an artist duo steeped in the horror genre, giving form to the ambient violence of capital that can be directly engaged with. We highlight the effects of atomization and, in contrast, the power of community: decentering the emotional life of the individual and centering the social and political forces that shape human behavior.
We build alternate universes populated by monsters, creating a counter mythology that queers existing norms. These mythical figures evoke repulsion and attraction, with operatic vocalizations, aggressive colors, and ornate monstrous bodies populating hyperreal, excessive worlds. Our costumes fuse couture traditions with emerging technologies, creating hybrid forms that explore fluidity and the tension between our world and the world without us. The playfulness of our monsters and lightness of the materials contrasts the brutality and gore of the performances.
We challenge individualism, both in practice and in content, through an inherently collaborative approach. Each project brings together multiple artists to produce speculative worlds that emerge as immersive installations, performances, and feature-length films. Our exhibitions create communal events that counter the alienation of capitalism, where the representation of violence provokes an embodied response from viewers' shared experience of becoming the monster.