Augenmusik. Figure [n°]
series of 24 objects - artefacts from live performance Augenmusik (Paris, 2016); French police flash light, battery, various cables, dimensions variable
2016
unique
courtesy of Katya Ev & private collections
The live performance Augenmusik has expanded into a homologue body of works, sharing the same title (2016/2021) incl. re-performances, videos, photographs, installation, print editions etc.
image 1: exhibition view Tinto, without Tinto, group show, Brussels (Be), 2019, ph Azad Asifovich
image 2: studio view, 2018, ph Katya Ev
image 3: exhibition view Fiat Lux, Pilar, Brussels (Be), ph Silvia Cappellari
A strong signifier of state power and a signal of danger, in Ev’s performance the police emergency light is taken over by the performers, thereby shifting power metaphorically to the people. Entering through the strategic defence points of the city, the performers converged on the historical “Belly of Paris,” referring to the ancient Greek understanding of the market square as a space for practicing direct democracy. The polyphonic texture of Bach’s composition served as a metaphor for the political equality of voices, as opposed the contemporary understanding of democracy which reduces this polyphony to the single voice of the majority. The performance triggered a strong reaction that revealed the sense of panic, hostility and aggression between the police and the city inhabitants. During the performance twenty two of twenty-four performers were stopped by the police, and two of the participants were suspected of terrorism and detained for questioning. At the end of the performance armed police special forces were waiting for the performers at Les Halles. They intended to disperse the “gathering” prohibited during the State of Emergency. They failed because the assembly of sirens replaced the forbidden assembly of people. By subverting the local legal system, in Augenmusik Ev tested the borders of state power, through an alternative kind of public assembly as well as the use of state instruments as the objects of empowerment for civil disobedience". Katia Krupennikova, "On the performance Augenmusik", 2018 >> full text
Exhibitions
2022 Carrozzone, Gallery This Is Arcade, Brussels (Be)
2021 Upside Down, DOC, Paris (Fr)
2021 Fiat Lux, Pilar, Brussels (Be)
Related artworks & performance documentation
video based on live performance Augenmusik, 2018
Final scene at Les Halles - video based on live performance Augenmusik, 2016
The Art of Fugue
orchestrated on 24 sirens, making-of video, 2016
series of 24 objects —artefacts from live performance
Augenmusik, 2016
installation based on live performance
Augenmusik, 2018
silk print edition & photograph, 2020
photographs based on live performance Augenmusik, Paris, 2016
photographs based on live performance To Hear with Eyes, Palais de Tokyo (Fr), 2018
photographs based on live performance Performative Walk, Aalst (Be), 2021
Performance activations
Performative Walk, streets of Aalst (Be), 2021
Augenmusik, streets of Ghent (Be), 2019
To Hear With Eyes, streets of Turnhout (Be), 2020
Last, MHKA Antwerp (Be), 2020
To Hear With Eyes, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (Fr), 2018
Exhibitions of Augenmusik (selection)
exhibition Statecraft, EMST - Athens (Gr), 2022
exhibition New Songs for the Old Cities, Netwerk Aalst (Be), 2021
Do Disturb#4, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (Fr), 2018
solo exhibition Etat d'Exception, Galerie Dix9, Paris (Fr), 2018