Toupée (2023)
Performance, 12 hours

“On 1/28/2023 I shaved off my mustache, and then spent 4 hours gluing it back on. For the following 8 hours I wandered around Stockholm with a real/fake-mustache, being photographed as the artist ‘Neil Bhat’ a deliberate staging of self that opened up the possibility for deconstruction of self. Followed by a camera, waiting for someone to notice that the mustache was fake and call me out. But is it fake? Where does the real begin, and where do I end? Met some friends for drinks at a cocktail bar later in the evening, went to the bathroom and came back without the mustache. They didn’t know what to do.”

Toupée was documented with 45 photos on film. A selection of the resulting photos were exhibited for the first time at Ebelingmuseet in the group exhibition Ruptur. At the opening of the exhibition the original poem The replacement (2023) was performed for the audience, finishing in a grand reveal; removing yet another real/fake mustache, this time on stage. The replacement (2023) has been performed at Marabouparken Konsthall, and Dopamin #1.