Bruce Karim · Performance & Installation
The body speaks.
The painting responds.
Live painting, dance and movement by a Ugandan-Swedish multidisciplinary artist based in Stockholm.
When I perform, the audience meets the work while it is becoming. A movement leaves a mark. Silence changes the room. A painting becomes part of an encounter between people.
My performance practice connects visual art and dance through rhythm, physical presence and the freedom to express what words cannot hold.
RISE UP
A space to be seen and heard.
RISE UP brings live painting, dance and movement, sound, silence and installation together. It grows from questions of identity, Black representation, belonging and transformation.
A covered mouth. Breath. A missed call. A body that falls and rises. Painting becomes a way of making a presence visible, while movement carries what cannot always be said.
The audience witnesses more than the finished image. It encounters the effort, uncertainty, strength and vulnerability of the person creating it.
From public encounter to an expanded performance.
Konsthall C, Stockholm · 2025
The first public presentation of RISE UP brought live painting and movement into a shared space with an audience.
Amnesty Artivism, Stockholm · 2026
A later presentation explored the relationship between body, materials and audience in a floor-based performance space.
I am developing RISE UP into an expanded form, exploring choreography, sound, spatial arrangements and collaboration with other performers.
Live painting
Sound of Freedom
Movement-based painting · 5 × 5 m · MadeBy Gallery, Stockholm · 2025
In Sound of Freedom, my body becomes part of the painting process. Movement and rhythm leave traces across a five-by-five-metre surface, connecting the image with the physical act of creating it.
The work holds the energy of that process. What remains is a painting, but also a record of movement, time and presence.
I also welcome conversations about live painting developed for particular places, audiences and artistic contexts.
Works in development
Bird Without Feathers
Development sample · 50 × 80 cm
Reclaimed packaging, textiles and painted surfaces
Not for sale
Installation · Working concept
Two faces, one suspended form
I am developing a hanging sculpture made with reused cans: two Black faces, visible from opposite sides, with the supporting core concealed. The work would remain suspended while being made and when exhibited.
This is a work in development. I am exploring how two presences can share one structure, and how a viewer’s position changes what they can see.
Dance & movement
Rhythm, presence and exchange.
Dance is a language in its own right within my multidisciplinary practice. I work with the energy of a stage and the closeness of a shared room, exploring how rhythm and gesture can connect people.
Alongside performance, I teach dance at Solna Kulturskola and lead workshops and creative exchanges in Sweden and internationally, including Uganda.
Invitations & collaborations
Bring the work into your space.
Performance & live painting
For exhibitions, cultural programmes and events interested in an encounter between visual art, movement and an audience.
Dance & creative exchange
For stage invitations, workshops and exchanges with artists, organisations and communities.
Development partnerships
For residencies, rehearsal spaces and artistic collaborations that can help develop RISE UP and future performance work.
Tell me about your venue, audience, dates and what you have in mind. We can discuss the artistic format, space, materials, sound and fee together. For RISE UP invitations, we will also discuss the stage of development and the form that suits the context.
