Katya Ev
(ekaterina vasilyeva)

"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 version

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"Each performer walked from one of the city's gateways to the center of the city, carrying a flashing light legally purchased from the official supplier to the Police Prefecture. While the law penalizes the use of this rotating lamp in cars, it makes no provision for its use by pedestrians. Once arriving, each performer set down their flashing light on the floor in the absence of the other performers, to form a temporary agora. The two-tone ringtone was then used to recompose in unison Johann Sebastian Bach's renowned The Art of the Fugue piece, composed using 48 notes", Fabien Danesi, exhibition Etat d'Exception, Galerie Dix9, Paris (Fr), 2018