Tag: Angelika Fojtuch

Poland
www.angelikafojtuch.net

Angelika Fojtuch’s performance work deals with issues of communication, the role of body and emotions in interpersonal relations, and the creation of identity in confrontation with the mechanisms of culture. Focusing on gender inquiry and norms of an individual’s appearance in public space, she explores and crosses the borders of social conduct in order to reveal collective latent tensions, neglected fantasies or traumatic fears. Often referring to the specific social and psychological context of the performance’s site, her work is usually conceived as a process of interaction with the audience, who are often put in uncomfortable or potentially embarrassing situations. 

Angelika Fojtuch’s work has been presented at events and festivals throughout Europe, in Israel, China and most recently Miami, Florida. In 2006, she founded Port Performance – Forum for Performance Art, with artist BBB Johannes Deimling. Port Performance has conducted performance art workshops with international participants, in Gdansk, Tallin, Berlin and Tel Aviv.

This performance by Angelika Fotjuch is presented in the context of the 2008 7A*11D International Festival of Performance Art.

Angelika Fojtuch writes about the performance:

“It is not the wound that matters. It is the scar.

I come up to one of the men in the audience and kneel down behind him. I tie my right foot to his with a bandage. I do the same with our left feet and continue to tie our whole bodies together. I wrap a bandage around my head, so only my hands remain visible. Finally I also hide my hands underneath the bandage and stop any activity, so only the man remains visible. There is silence. After a while the curator or members of the audience assume the performance is over and start to free us from the bandage. Yet when they finish I do not let go of the man and cling to him instead. When he tries to get rid of me I hold on to him as strongly as I can.

In different situations I experience a variety of reactions from my performance partners including:
He decides to carry me out of the room on his back.
He does not act to end the situation and lets me embrace him for next four hours.
He turns around to face me and hugs me firmly.
He uses force to get rid of me.”

7A*11D is a not-for-profit, artist-driven collective that curates and produces English Canada’s oldest ongoing biennial of performance art. 7A*11D was established in 1997 by a group of performance artists, collectives, and organizers, eager to develop a forum for performance art in Toronto. The first 7A*11D International Festival of Performance Art, in August 1997, presented the work of 60 local, national and international artists.