Within the performance and video work “copy and paste” i invite people from the public to enter the installation and take on the role of the teacher in front of a class of four ‘students’. In front of the class the assistant of the teacher helps people from the audience to to
recite from a scripted text. The text refers to dogma’s around art and has been run through Google Translate multiple times, causing errors that needs to be negotiated while reading it out loud. During the performance, both scripted and unscripted mistakes are made. Every time someone makes a ‘mistake’, the teacher’s assistant cleans up the person who made the mistake. In this way, a process is created in which all the participants in the room: audience, performers and artists have an influence on what is labeled as ‘fault’.
By taking inspiration from the quintessential spaces for education, control and discipline, i try to flesh out a space that is familiar yet reminds us of those situations of subjection. The heightened awareness in this space, further amplified by a large ballet class like mirrored wall in the middle of the space, all windows covered with vaseline, a steel mortuary table and a series of morphic sculptures that occupy the space as silent spectators, confronts the visitors with what is left of us after endless loops of cleaning.
In Copy and Paste I perform the role of the teacher assistant, helping the audience member perform their role “correctly” by giving instructions such as how to say lines or how to stand. In this manner, my role functions as that of a hidden authority figure. Similarly to an automatic spelling corrector installed on your computer, these authority figures are often less visible than a teacher in a classroom, but interfere a lot with our sense of right and wrong. My role in this setting is to almost become what people colloquially refer to as “the system”.
Within the performance and video work “copy and paste” i invite people from the public to enter the installation and take on the role of the teacher in front of a class of four ‘students’. In front of the class the assistant of the teacher helps people from the audience to to
recite from a scripted text. The text refers to dogma’s around art and has been run through Google Translate multiple times, causing errors that needs to be negotiated while reading it out loud. During the performance, both scripted and unscripted mistakes are made. Every time someone makes a ‘mistake’, the teacher’s assistant cleans up the person who made the mistake. In this way, a process is created in which all the participants in the room: audience, performers and artists have an influence on what is labeled as ‘fault’.
By taking inspiration from the quintessential spaces for education, control and discipline, i try to flesh out a space that is familiar yet reminds us of those situations of subjection. The heightened awareness in this space, further amplified by a large ballet class like mirrored wall in the middle of the space, all windows covered with vaseline, a steel mortuary table and a series of morphic sculptures that occupy the space as silent spectators, confronts the visitors with what is left of us after endless loops of cleaning.
In Copy and Paste I perform the role of the teacher assistant, helping the audience member perform their role “correctly” by giving instructions such as how to say lines or how to stand. In this manner, my role functions as that of a hidden authority figure. Similarly to an automatic spelling corrector installed on your computer, these authority figures are often less visible than a teacher in a classroom, but interfere a lot with our sense of right and wrong. My role in this setting is to almost become what people colloquially refer to as “the system”.
