Adelita Husni Bey: Agency
Agency (2014), film still.
Agency (2014), film still. High-definition video, 40’. Courtesy of the artist. Adelita Husni Bey Agency June 4—November 8, 2026 Dome Theatre 2014, Rome, Italy. Thirty-five students at Manara High School take part in a role-playing workshop modelled on a group exercise, derived from a 1970s UK critical civic studies curriculum method. Led by Italian-Libyan artist Adelita Husni Bey, the students are divided into five constituencies – politicians, activists, bankers, journalists, and workers – and asked to engage with pressing issues in contemporary Italian politics, including unemployment, snap elections, and natural disasters. In the months leading up to the workshop, the students met with economists, trade union leaders, journalists, editors, and activists, nurturing a deeper understanding of the responsibilities, challenges, and limitations that colour and contour the roles they chose to play. More than a mere transfer of knowledge, these encounters act as a form of slow initiation. The workshop that follows is not a lesson in governance, but a rehearsal of it: a makeshift society in which competing groups seek to assert influence. Alliances must be constantly made and unmade, and no position holds without being continually defended. Everyone has an agenda, and every agenda is performed, tested, destabilised in real time. The workshop unfolds through various stages. First, the day’s headlines are read from local newspapers; in response to those, the different groups develop strategies in relation to the unfolding of so-called historical events in the game. Then, the journalists prepare a newsreel, after which the different groups award each other “power points” depending on who they believe has retained or maintained power during that round of the game. These points determine the relative influence of each constituency in subsequent rounds, creating a shifting balance of power that structures the workshop as it progresses. Throughout this exercise, power and authority are produced through a rehearsal of collective belief. Political agency flickers, earned and withdrawn in the same breath. It may be won, yet it is constantly questioned; public opinion can (and perhaps must) be shaped. As the workshop progresses, journalists continue to document the unfolding developments, becoming not mere observers, but active participants in the construction of the social reality around them. Information is power, but it also circulates unevenly; and positions of influence are constantly renegotiated. Presented more than a decade after its completion, Husni Bey’s Agency (2014) is a documentation of this workshop, reflecting on the nature of power; the ways in which it manifests and operates; and how it may (or may not) be effectively used. Both disquieting and astute, the work resonates as urgently today as it did at the moment of its making, 12 years ago. Curated by Muriel N. Kahwagi. Please Note: The Dome Theatre will be closed on September 24; Adelita Husni Bey: Agency will not be on view on this date. Upcoming Programs Summary Block This block has no content yet. Items you add to the page connected to this block will display here. Featured #block-1ba9e8b5c398ed0012fd { --summary-title-font-size: 20px; --summary-excerpt-font-size: 14px; --summary-text-align: left; --summary-list-image-float: left; --summary-list-thumbnail-padding-left: 0; --summary-list-thumbnail-padding-right: 20px; --summary-list-qv-padding-left: 0; --summary-list-qv-padding-right: 20px; --summary-list-product-mark-left: 0; --summary-list-product-mark-right: auto; --summary-meta-above-display: none; --summary-meta-below-title-display: none; --summary-meta-below-content-display: block; --summary-show-title: block; --summary-show-thumbnail: block; --summary-show-excerpt: block; --summary-show-excerpt-clamped: -webkit-box; --summary-content-spacing: 10px; --summary-show-price: block; --summary-show-read-more-link: none; } #block-1ba9e8b5c398ed0012fd { } #block-1ba9e8b5c398ed0012fd .summary-block-wrapper { --tweak-summary-block-padding: initial; } #block-1ba9e8b5c398ed0012fd { mix-blend-mode: var(--tweak-summary-block-blend); border-radius: var(--tweak-summary-block-radius); } #block-1ba9e8b5c398ed0012fd { } Program Archive Featured Aug 2 August 2, 2026 Events , Erdem Taşdelen , Ghazaleh Avarzamani , Adelita Husni Bey , Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens , Haig Aivazian SOLD OUT | Historic Calgary Week: Exhibition Tours and Performance August 2, 2026 Events , Erdem Taşdelen , Ghazaleh Avarzamani , Adelita Husni Bey , Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens , Haig Aivazian Read more → August 2, 2026 Events , Erdem Taşdelen , Ghazaleh Avarzamani , Adelita Husni Bey , Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens , Haig Aivazian Jun 4 June 4, 2026 Events , Exhibition Opening , Ghazaleh Avarzamani , Adelita Husni Bey , Haig Aivazian Exhibition Opening | Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Ad
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