|
Antoni Karwowski – Sung Neungkyung – performance from the East in the “Eastern Gallery” and more
Anka Lesniak, 2013-06-26
On May 9th 2013 in Lodz two performances were presented by Antoni Karwowski (Poland) and Sung Neungkyung (South Korea). Both were a part of a Polish-Korean exhibition entitled: Name of the Father? Name of the Mother! organised during the 5th Art and Documentation Festival. The exhibition was presented in two spaces – in the Gardener’s House and the Wschodnia [Eastern] Gallery, which is in Wschodnia [Eastern] Street. Antoni Karwowski chose an the neutral space of the Gardener’s House, while Sung Neungkyung decided to use the alternative space of the Wschodnia Gallery, located in an apartment in a building from before WW2.
Both artists belong to an older generation of performance artists and are known internationally. Antoni Karwowski also creates painting, installation and video art. Sung Neungkyung started from conceptual art, and the varied character of his art actions is characteristic for post-modern art practice.
The performance by Antoni Karwowski was entitled NEWS. The artist performed in a form of costume, which is typical for him – a white shirt and black trousers. The main prop was a compass. Karwowski carefully noted the direction with it and then in a marked point, started to spit black liquid from his mouth while at first laying on the floor and then sliding, making a circle with his own body. Then all of the sudden, he broke the rhythm that he previously set and started to roll on the floor, splashing the paint so that it spilt accidentally. The whole sequence of motion was repeated by the artist four times. In this way he indicated the four sides of the world, marking each by a letter N-North, E-East, W-West, S-South which together made a word NEWS. The double meaning of the title is perhaps a key to its understanding – four sides of the world, multiple people and cultures, but the messages in the media which mainly focus only on violence and conflicts, merge all events into one.
Sung Neungkyung performed with a suitcase. Performance artists often use this prop, taking out various objects from it and in this way build a structure for their action. In Poland the artist who uses a suitcase most often and sometimes even more than one, is Ewa Swidzinska. Sung Neungkyung also uses a white and pink umbrella which makes his actions more poetic. An important element is also his voice intonation. It is sometimes a series of seemingly cut off narrations, adding unexpected turns to the action. It is as if the artist consciously tries to bore the spectator in order to then wake his/her mind up brutally a moment later. When it comes to the relationship with the audience, Sung Neungkyung’s performance could be divided into three parts. In the first one he mainly used his own body and voice. One could associate his behaviour with shamanist ritual, or yoga exercises, but when he started to use a hula hoop and other props and elements of workout clothes, he created a feeling of the absurd. In the general structure of his performance, he weaved in elements from various current events, like the presentation of a crocodile-leather hat that he bought in a shop named Crocodile on Piotrkowska St. in Lodz which sells “exclusive” products like that. So the absurdity of life is mixed with the absurdity of art, or like the artist says: „Art is easy, life is hard”.
In the next part of the performance, the audience felt less comfortable. Sung Neungkyung started to shoot at people using a sling and ping-pong balls (made in China). On the balls he wrote some sentences – I was shot by one with the sentence “I am at the end of my rope”.
In the end the artist totally crossed the border of safety – he started to whack the public with an oblong, elastic item and as most spectators could feel for themselves – it was not too soft. In this moment of his action there is usually some reaction – in the Wschodnia Gallery it was pretty delicate in comparison to other places where Sung performed – one of the spectators caught the object and did not allow the performer to continue his action.
The performances of both artists were totally different. The structure of Karwowski’s action was clear, well-ordered and thought-over. Sung Neungkyung based his work on extreme emotions and absurd confrontations provoked by various situations. He surprised the Polish audience. It turns out that we have certain stereotypes referring to the actions of performance artists from Asia that have nothing to do with reality. A lot of people expected a subtle, meditative action and yet we were hit (also literally) by something of a radically different quality. If someone was to form an opinion about art and culture in Poland and South Korea based on these two performances and the entire exhibition, probably they would conclude that there are many similarities and differences and these are often not where we stereotypically expect them to be.
photos: Malgorzata Kruszyniak
<<< back
|
