The opening just got busier and busier and I managed to take a few pictures before getting sucked into the crowd.
Following this I had an idea for how to present some of the language experiments I made back in China. I’m going to call these a meeting of minds series that uses the computer generated translations to produce some attractive results that nobody quite knows what to do with.
We have now settled on a date for the performance at the gallery, it will be on May 3rd. It quite a small space, so even if only 7 people show up it will feel busy, more and it will be crowded.
For the first time I will be putting a video piece of mine on sale as a limited edition DVD. This is a new thing for me and has caused me to think again about the role of video in my practice. I have typically used video to act as documentation of the live performance but I see that this relationship has been changing for a little while. Even though the live event remains the centre of my practice, these videos function as video works independent of the performance. I can see myself working further in this way, even making some works that exist as videos without ever being performances for a live spectator. Indeed, I have some plans brewing for just that over the Summer. If I do make that sort of step in the work then it would be good if I could sell a few more videos!
Got my Vimeo account this morning and started uploading…
The video ‘Customer Is Always Wrong’ will feature in the following group show:
HOME OFFICE OF THE FAN FICTION EMPIRE
BILL AITCHISON | ANGEL ROSE | DARREN COFFIELD | SALLY FUERST | ANNE WÖLK | MALCOLM LITSON | RICHARD GOOLD | GUY OLIVER | ANDREW STANNEY | CORINNA SPENCER | PAUL SAKOILSKY | CHRISTINA MITRENSE | JOEY HOLDER | STEFANO PASQUINI | DARYL BROWN | RALPH DOREY | NICOLE BACHMANN | BEATRIZ OLABARRIETA | GINA SACCONE | EVAN CALDER WILLIAMS | ELECTRA COSTA
6 April – 27 May 2012
Private View Thursday 5 April 7pm – 9:30pm
THE RESIDENCE GALLERY
229 Victoria Park Road, London, UK E97HD
Nearest Tubes: Bethnal Green, Mile End
Bus 277, 425, 388
+44 (0) 20 8985 0321
[email protected]
www.residence-gallery.com
I am back from Germany after having done the Cologne shows. I never realised just how important the timing with the subtitles is. We changed it by slowing down the piece and this made the whole performance very different. Rather than speech and subtitles arriving simultaneously, we separated them giving both much more space and focus. It seems like a detail but it is the sort of detail that really changes the nature of the piece.
It went very well and gave renewed faith in the craziness of this endeavour. I’m tempted to say that it felt easier doing the show in Germany than in the UK and I could now imagine doing it pretty much anywhere since the rise of China is a global reality not just a local story.
I also found that I have altered the way I perform and now make my actions cleaner and slower, making the work look less chatty. This turns everything (words, actions, sound, subtitles) far more into symbols.
There were plenty of positive things people said, which was most encouraging, and one or two negative things too. I’m used to dividing opinion so that does not worry me and in fact one of the negative comments I found curious and even partially corect. Namely, that the perofrmance was superficial. I think in a way it is because I am very interested in surfaces, in the surface level of experience. By really going into the aesthetics and sounds of Chinese pop culture and choosing that as my aesthetic this is always going to be an issue. By also having the translation filtered through Google translate, what depth was there in the original text is partially lost or at least obscured. This is somewhat the experience that I as a visitor to China had: that there is a very present and bouyant surface culture but that there is an attempt to remove you from the depth and conflict that also exist within the culture and daily life. The performance is therefore afflicted by the conditions it critiques.
I try not to underline meaning and instead let people have the experience of snatching it themselves, yet I know this is a experience that each spectator will approach individually and some will be more inclined to find depth than others. It remains my way nonetheless to hold this tension and if there is further work upon the performance it will be to maintain these opposing tendencies and work within them.
The performance went rather well in the end and the time flew by. I got mixed up once or twice in my half rememberred Chinese text but that all seemed to be in the spirit of the show. Having a second person (Vera Chok) reading the ropey translation live was a great bonus and she did a good job of it. The piece was a bit more welcoming as a consequence and for the audience at Tristan Bates who were not an avant-garde language performance crowd, this was definitely the right way to go. We spent a bit of time going over the text in advance in order to secure the meaning in spite of the garbled expression and this meant there was some tension there: the gulf between the two could be played with. This got me thinking that it would be possible to exploit this way of playing the show quite a bit further and draw the translator further into the work.
This piece, like most of mine, has to be reworked and thought through afresh each time I present it. That is clearly the case for the next show which will be in Cologne on the 22nd and 23rd March. Details below:
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Interkulturelle Performance in Mandarin mit deutschen Untertiteln
DO 22.03.2012│20.00 h
FR 23.03.2012│20.00 h
Ausgangspunkt von Bill Aitchisons Soloperformance ist die Annahme, daß sich aus der Betrachtung des Selbst von einem anderen kulturellem Standpunkt aus neue Einblicke in die eigene Identität sowie in die Kultur, durch die man sich selbst betrachtet, ergeben. Aitchison untersucht die Beziehung zu seiner britischen Identität aus der Sicht des Alltagslebens in Xiamen, Südchina. Das Ergebnis ist eine sehr persönliche Dokumentation eines dreieinhalbmonatigen Aufenthalts in China, die Schwierigkeiten, Annehmlichkeiten, Konfusionen und Einsichten verarbeitet. Aitchison versenkte sich in den Alltag Xiamens und benutzte dort vorgefundenes Material. Gefiltert durch seinen sehr westlichen Aufführungsstil entstand eine hybride, spannungsgeladene Arbeit.
Performance in Mandarin mit deutscher Übertitelung.
Konzept & Performance: Bill Aitchison
In Zusammenarbeit mit James Dunn, Musik und Boris Kahnert, Licht
gefördert durch: Stadt Köln, British Council
Eintritt: 15 Euro / 9 Euro ermäßigt / 3 Euro mit “Köln-Pass”
Bill Aitchison is a performance artist who has shown his work in galleries, theatres and festivals in Europe, Asia, America and The Middle East. His work covers performances, videos, audio works and texts with the live event being the most central aspect. He has a PhD from Goldsmiths on performance art and performer discipline, has published and made work for radio. www.billaitchison.co.uk
