Poetry & Performance

In the second half of the twentieth century, poets and artists in particular took up the challenge of reflecting on and investigating the instrumentalization of language for communicative and political-ideological purposes. They did so by drawing attention to the “made-ness” of language, its material and medial dimension, and by creating performative situations for themselves and their audiences within which possibilities of verbal expression could be tested and acted out. In Eastern Europe, poetry and performance played a significant role in the unofficial or partially tolerated cultural scene.

Babi Badalov, Rimma Gerlovina in Nová synagoga, Žilina, Slovakia. Photo” Peter Snadik

The writing practice of samizdat and its relation to the devices of concrete and visual poetry have been treated and presented in a number of previous projects. Until now however, less consideration has been given to the circumstances of performance. In addition to the typescript literature of samizdat, subcultural milieus attached particular importance to the oral recitation of poems, exhibitions, and poetry actions. The interrelation between text and situation in poetic acts functioned as a trigger for performances and happenings.
The exhibition presents authors from subcultures in socialist states along with contemporary positions that continue the legacy of combining poetry and performance. It shows the efforts of poets and artists to break free from controlled language and normative communicative now and then. Poetry & Performance. The Eastern European Perspective thus confronts the current social challenges in the post-socialist countries through the prism of language and ideology and looks back at their points of departure.
Sections:
– Writing-Reading Performance
– Audio Gestures
– Interventions in Public Space
– Cinematographic Poetry
– Body Poetry
– Language Games

Artists:

Milan Adamčiak • Akademia Ruchu • Nikita Alekseev • Gábor Altorjay • Pavel Arsenev • Damir Avdić • Babi Badalov • Bosch+ Bosch (Attila Csernik • Slavko Matković • László Szalma) • Collective Actions Group • Coro Collective • Ľubomír Ďurček • Exterra XX • Else Gabriel / Via Lewandowsky • Rimma Gerlovina • Jelena Glazova • Tomislav Gotovac • Group of Six Artists • Bohumila Grögerová / Josef Hiršal • Gino Hahnemann • Tibor Hajas • Václav Havel • Jörg Herold • Vladimir Kopicl • Dávid Koronczi • Katalin Ladik • Yuri Leiderman / Andrey Silvestrov • Via Lewandowsky/ Durs Grünbein • Vlado Martek • Kirill Medvedev • Jan Měřička • Andrei Monastyrski • Ladislav Novák • Pavel Novotný • NSRD (Hardijs Lediņš • Juris Boiko • Imants Žodžiks) • OHO Group (Nuša & Srečo Dragan • Naško Križnar) • Orange Alternative • Orbita (Semyon Khanin, Artur Punte, Vladimir Svetlov, Sergej Timofejev) • Roman Osminkin • Ewa Partum • Bogdanka Poznanović • Dmitri Prigov • Pussy Riot • Lev Rubinstein • Mladen Stilinović • Gabriele Stötzer • Tamás Szentjóby • Bálint Szombathy • Slobodan Tišma • Dezider Tóth (Monogramista T.D) • Raša Todosijević • Jaromír Typlt • Jiří Valoch

In cooperation with: Dubravka Djurić, Emese Kürti, Claus Löser, Pavel Novotný, Branka Stipančić, Darko Šimičić, Mara Traumane
Architecture: Matej Gavula (Žilina), RCNKSK architekti (Shedhalle Zürich, Motorenhalle Dresden)
Installation: Katarina Kostandinović (Belgrade)
The catalogue book will be published in 2020.

Exhibition view. New Synagogue, Žilina, Slovakia Photo © Peter Snadik

Ewa Partum: Active Poetry, 1971. Photo © Peter Snadik

Vlado Martek: Ponos (Pride). 1975. Photo © Peter Snadik

Exhibition view. Podroom, Cultural Center Belgrade, Serbia. Foto Katarina Kostandinović

Slobodan Tišma: I want to tell you something, Belgrade 2018. Foto Ratko Rakin

Exhibition view. Shedhalle Zürich 2018. Photo Gina Folly

Exhibition view. Shedhalle Zürich 2018. Photo RCNKSK

Exhibition view. Motorenhalle – riesa efau Kultur Forum Dresden.
Foto: Andreas Seeliger

Exhibition Booklet

Poetry & Performance. The Eastern European Perspective. Hg. von Tomáš Glanc, Daniel Grún, Sabine Hänsgen, Žilina: Nová synagóga 2017.

Poetry & Performance. The Eastern European Perspective. Hg. von Tomáš Glanc, Sabine Hänsgen, Zürich: Shedhalle 2018.

Poetry & Performance. Die osteuropäische Perspektive. Hg. von Tomáš Glanc, Sabine Hänsgen, Dresden: Motorenhalle 2019.

Interview

Wenn Buchstaben ihre Muskeln zeigen. Gespräch mit Tomáš Glanc und Sabine Hänsgen von Sylvia Sasse, in: https://www.republik.ch/ 13.10.2018

«Неслучаен факт, что именно в автократиях художники так много экспериментировали с языком». Беседа с Сабиной Хэнсген и Томашем Гланцем о перформативном измерении поэзии. Текст: Сильвия Зассе. In: colta.ru, 22.1. 2019

When Letters Show Their Muscles: A Conversation with Sabine Hänsgen and Tomáš Glanc about the Traveling Exhibition Poetry & Performance, the Eastern European Perspective by Sylvia Sasse (Zurich) , Sabine Hänsgen (Zurich), Tomáš Glanc (Zurich) in: ARTMargins, 24. 6. 2019

Review

Pravda, 1.3. 2018 by Juraj Mojžiš

Artalk.cz, 9.3. 2018 by Jana Písaříková

springerin 2/2018 by Lucia Gavulá

Vreme, 1422, 5.4. 2018 by Jovana Georgievski

Artforum 5/2018 by Nuit Banai

ArtReview, December 2018 by Olga Stefan

Novinki.de, 3.1. 2019 by Jelica Popović

ARTMargins, 27. 6. 2019 by Matthias Meindl

Kunstchronik, September/Oktober 2019 by Seraina Renz

Zaborona Journal, 8.2. 2022 by Dinara Khalilova (in Ukrainian)

Zaborona Journal, 8.2. 2022 by Dinara Khalilova (in Russian)

Award

“Biela kocka” Award (“White Cube”, awarded by Rada galérií Slovenska) –– 1. prize in the category “independent project” 2018 for “Poetry&Performance. The Eastern European Perspective” in the New Synagogue Žilina.

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