In her work Teresa Vittucci scrutinises one of the culturally most important female figures: the Virgin Mary. With a gentle violence Vittucci begins to unravel the queer potential of a figure which is culturally seen as an epitome of purity, innocence and perfection, icon of the compassionate woman and mourning mother. Revered and given the function of Mother of God by church authorities, she has been criticised by the feminist movement as a role model full of female stereotypes. Vittucci wants to liberate her, emancipate her and rehabilitate her in her ambivalent role of unconditional love and as the ambassador of a queer feminism.
Free the stage for the matriarch Mary and the power of her vulnerable crusade!

HATE ME, TENDER was awarded with the Swiss Dance Prize in 2019 and is the first part of Teresa Vittucci’s trilogy in praise of vulnerability, where she looks to the narratives of archetypal female figures. Second part DOOM was also presented in Tallinn at SAAL Biennaal 2023 and third part SANE SATAN premiered in 2024.

Teresa Vittucci is a Vienna born artist who is currently based in Zurich. Her practice is rooted in the field of contemporary dance performance and investigates feminist and queer perspectives on pop culture, history, and religion. Bad jokes are always part of the process. She works as a solo artist and also collaborates with other artists including Colin Self, Annina Machaz, Simone Aughterlony, Nils A. Lange, Melanie Jame Wolf, Michael Turinsky and Claire Vivianne Sobottke. In 2019 Teresa received the Swiss Dance Prize for the first part of her trilogy HATE, ME TENDER. She was Young Associate Artist at Tanzhaus Zürich in 2019-2022. Currently she is busy with touring and working on the completion of her trilogy, next several projects as well as guest teaching at the Art Universities of Zurich and Berne.