Shocking haircut stuðios

Shocking Haircut Studio was the first larger project I made together with my partner Vivian. We built a conceptual hair salon that could appear in different places, often where people did not expect it. The name Shocking came from a simple premise: once you sat in the chair, you gave up control over your hair.

The salon functioned as a performative space, somewhere between a roleplay and a real haircut. We set it up in public situations and invited people to sit down, often without knowing exactly what they were stepping into. While we cut, conversations about identity, memories, and self-image naturally unfolded. The only real rule was that we did not take requests. People had to leave their comfort zone and trust the process.

Something particular happens when someone sits in the chair. A small, intimate space appears in the middle of a public setting. Insecurities surface, but so does honesty. Sometimes the changes were subtle, other times they followed people for years. The work looks at identity through something as ordinary and sensitive as hair, and what happens when control is temporarily handed over to someone else.

Azores / Gallery VACA

We brought the salon to the Azores during a residency connected to the opening of a Krott&Krass exhibition at Gallery VACA. Over ten days, we set up the salon during dinners. The idea was to disturb the neutral gallery atmosphere and bring something more alive and unpredictable into the space.

We invited people from our travels around the island, for the dinner and hair salon. The salon created a pocket of intimacy in the gallery, and opened conversations with local Azoreans about alienation, being queer in an island community and longings.