A version of the project that would eventually become Lotto Royale was first developed in Berlin under the title Club for Performance Art Gallery in 2020 during the height of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. The project was conceived by the artist Camila Malenchini in response to the closure of all platforms for live and in-person presentation of arts and culture. The Club consisted of a group of over 40 invited artists who made one-on-one performances in public space with the intention of continuing to have a performative art practice despite the isolating conditions of the pandemic. This format was replicated in the city of Buenos Aires some months later.
In 2021, the Club organized a one-day program of one-on-one performances by 30 artists at Dock 11 in Prenzlauer Berg in collaboration with the collective T.E.N.T. (Layton Lachman, Caroline Neill Alexander & Ivanka Tramp). The program featured a lottery system for pairing individual audience members with individual performers. While the 30 artists performed with one audience member at a time, the members of T.E.N.T. activated the spaces at Dock 11 with pop-up performances and music by sound artists and DJs.
In 2022, the Club for Performance Art Gallery and T.E.N.T. convened again to produce and present Lotto Royale, a two-day program of one-on-one performances that again paired individual audience members and performers through a lottery system. The program, presented August 12–13, 2022, was hosted at Fortuna, a former casino converted into an arts space in Neukölln, with performances taking place in the parks, plazas, and other public spaces surrounding Fortuna.
Participating Artists Berlin: 2020 – 2022
Sharon Mercado
Stefan Pente
Alice Chauchat
Caroline Alexander
Ayleeen & Ju ishii & Guxor
Auro Orso
Daniel Miranda
Gabriela Cordovez
Louise Trueheart
Juan Pablo Camara
MINQ
Ronald Berger
Rain Rose
David Anstey & Lyla Palmer
Magdalena Meindl
Yin Kokott
Lea Kieffer & Timothe Nay
Kalil Bat
Alex Viteri
Ana Laura Lozza
Caitlin Fisher
Cajsa Godee
Cathy Walsh
Denise Lim
Maria Scaroni
Juan Felipe Gonzalez
Julian Weber
Duncan Routh
Etaïnn Zwer
Eddy Levin
emeka ene
Inky Lee
Jee Chan
Kiana Rezvani
Liina Magnea
Marga Alfeirao
Maciek Sado
Judith Foerster
Roni Katz