bouche Ã oreille - SAVVY Contemporary

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Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 66 BOUCHE À OREILLECONCEPT FOR AN EXHIBITION



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Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 1414 BOUCHE À OREILLEYINGMEI DUANPERFORMANCE ASCOMMUNICATIONFundamentally, communication is a centralissue for the artist Yingmei Duan. In herchildhood and adolescence she hardly andreluctantly spoke. This situation changedonly after the age of 21, when she becameseriously ill and had a vision in a dream ofbecoming an artist. Since then she hasbeen tracing the symbol-system of artisticcharacters in various media, especiallywith her whole body and with all sensesover long-lasting periods. Time and spaceare interwoven with each other, andnothing remains in its original mouldduring the exhibition, where she constantlychanges the constant/ existing.Duan is quintessentially an action-artist, aperformance artist. At the beginning sheobtained the classical training in painting,graphic and sculpture in China, where shecame in contact quite early with theChinese avant-garde movement and alreadyparticipated in some (now legendary/classic) performances.Duan is not pursuing a quest for an intellectualdiscourse in her art, but the anchoragein life. Problems of definitions are forher secondary although she explores andreflects on her works and those of her colleagueswith enough meticulousness.She is a mistress of reduction. Many of herperformances are so minimalist and seeminglyspontaneously integrated in dailysituations, such that even art critics occasionallyconfusingly ask themselves if an“art” piece is in presentation.In galleries, museums and festivals theartistic character is a priori evident.Usually, Duan appears naked and searchesfor the body contact with the public, alsoin public spaces, in completely mundaneenvironments.Duan doesn’t really follow political aims,but recently she demonstratively confrontsprecarious social situations, e.g. inSwaziland 2010, where she lived with andexperienced life in a polygamous family orin England, where she will in the nearfuture live and work as an artist withseriously sick children in a hospice forthree months. Duan will combine socialengagement and aesthetical practice inthis situation and wants to create alongsi-

Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 15de the sick children new fairy tales whichwill be realised on site in the hospice.From an artistic point of view, Duan is aglobal player. She succeeds effortlessly tocreate contacts with diverse ethnic groupsand social classes, by approaching peoplecompletely without prejudice.Art political questions like those triggeredby the SAVVY CONTEMPORARY galleryin Berlin on a debate between „westernart“ and „non-western art“ are annulled infavour of an integral understanding of art,but which never assumes religious or eveneschatological traits.Duan is completely undogmatic! Religiousplaces e.g. graveyards or chapels are placesof fascination for her, but not becauseof an expression of speculative world view.She finds truth only in the “here and now”of her artistic expression, i.e. in the communicationwith other people… in “performance”.The crucial point in Yingmei Duan’s aestheticalpractice is direct contact with thepeople on the field, i.e. in concrete lifesituations. In this togetherness she researcheson people. She is not in search ofmuseum situations but instead interestedin witnessing, she observes very exactly,asks people quite plump and direct questionsand realises connections. Primacyalways occupies thereby the opinion.“I see what other people cannot see and Ialways use my eyes to recognise andinvent issues” states Duan authoritatively.These words emanate the self-confidenceof an artist who understands herself asbeing in harmony with the world and wholoves life because she can fulfil it with art.It is not really „l’art pour l’art“, but alsonot „literal art“, let alone a ‘world view’which she represents, but rather the existentialof demonstrative experience thatguides her artistic actions. Existence is inthis case more than just the ‘own’ experience.It is the experience of the ‘whole’in togetherness with time and space. Thatis why it is part and parcel of Duan’s workto live for a long time in the place whereintends to do a performance, thus transformingthe gallery space into a living- andsleeping space.Concepts are developed and realised onsite in the SAVVY CONTEMPORARY galleryin cooperation with the Berlin-residentartist, Verena Kyselka.Jürgen Bernhard Kuck

Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 1616 BOUCHE À OREILLEYINGMEI DUANINTERVIEWYou decided to literally move into theart space of SAVVY CONTEMPORARYBerlin to realize your project… howwas your stay in the gallery so far?I have’nt been here for long, but until noweverything is fine.Since 2003 I have been realizing differentperformances and -installations during myexhibitions. The gallery becomes my studio,where I can stay, develop and changemy art works experimentally on a sitespecificbasis. Work-in-progress is alwaysa very important part of my art works.This is not the first time you’ve livedin an art/ exhibition space… what is itabout being a part of the art space,living, eating, sleeping etc in thespace that fascinates you?Being a part of the art space, living,eating, sleeping etc in the space that fascinatesme and it belongs to my art works,too. If it is possible I very much like towitness and develop my art works fromthe beginning until the end.Since 2003 I have produced many differentworks in this way. I will give yousome examples for some of my solo exhibitions:In 2003 I created a different performanceeveryday over the duration of a month “26days in OKS Gallery”; in 2005 I combinedperformance and installation in the soloexhibition “Playing with 14 rooms”; in2006 I planned to create 19 performancesthat communicated with the other 19 exhibitedworks and artists for the group show“Excellent”; in 2007 I explored the relationshipbetween performance and paintingin the solo exhibition “Performance-Painting”, where I interpreted performancepieces by a variety of 33 artists intopainted canvasses.Since 2008 I have still been developing aperformance "circle life" by Skype with mywhole family, and in 2009 I pursued a performance& research project related to arteducation, exploring the different structuresin Germany, England and China.Will you describe your work as havinga social aesthetic and relation?And should art always have this abilityof having a social impact?We know of cases where artists likeVito Acconci or Charlotte Posenenskestopped doing art because they

Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 17Old water / Live performanceDuration: approx. 5 MinStaedtisches Museum Zwickau,Germany, 2000Photography: Unknown

Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 1818 BOUCHE À OREILLEYINGMEI DUANdiscovered that art had no effect onour social or political conditions…what do you think about this?I am very interested in the exploration ofhuman being (instincts, longings, and darkdesires…). I examine the processes ofsociety and question its conventions andbehaviours. If art always has this ability ofhaving a social impact, I think each artisthas his/her own opinion. For me of courseart has a very big effect on our social orpolitical conditions…When I invited you to do an exhibitionat the SAVVY CONTEMPORARY artspace, I asked you to invite a cooperationpartner. You invited VerenaKyselka to cooperate with you in thisproject… What exactly is it aboutVerena’s work which stimulated youto invite her to this project?We have known each other for 15 years,we understand each other very well, andwe have always wanted to work together.I appreciate her very much, because shealways put all her energy for doing art andshe does experiments a lot. I am veryproud of working together with her.I can imagine it is always a challengingtask to do an exhibition and evencreate new works with somebodyelse… where or what was your startingpoint in this co-operation withVerena?Yes, collaborative working, with differentpeople is always a big and challengingtask. I have earned much experience sinceI do collaborations with different people.We are different people, we have differentexperience from our life, we also have differentexperiences in the art area.Friend / Collaborative liveperformance with Mirko WinkelDuration: approx. 3 MinHochschule für Bildende KünsteBraunschweig, Germany, 2003Photogrphy: Anna Berndtson andMariangela Bombardieri


Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 2020 BOUCHE À OREILLEYINGMEI DUANTherefore during the time there are sometimesproblems… It is normal actually. Butone learns a lot how to solve the problemsand how to be generous…Your concept “mouth to ear” is the pointfrom where we started to work.Do you generally cooperate with otherartists in your work as an artist? Ifyes, what normally instigates you todo a co-operation?I do cooperate not only with artists, butalso with non art background people. Newart work creation and the zeal to discoverinstigate me to do a co-operation.So, what are you planning to exposein the exhibition?Communication is as the centre of our project.We will use different art media, andperformance is through the whole show.If I understand well, you are planningto present works of different media…video, photography and performance.Do you normally work with all thesemedia or is this a novice for Savvy?Since 10 years I mostly have been doingperformances, and sometimes i use differentart medium in my performances (e.g.Installation, video, painting…). But performanceis always as the main point in myart work.Also, if I am not mistaken, I guessyou are planning to do lectures andother performances in the course ofthe exhibition… can you please tell ussomething about that?Yes, we decided to stay in the show forthe whole period, we will communicateand exchange with different people duringthe days and will develop our project alsowith them together.Your exhibition is entitled “bouche àoreille” which is a kind of startingpoint on an artistic research on communication.What role does communicationplay in your work?Communication always plays a very importantrole in my art works.There are many perspectives fromwhich the topic of communication orlack of communication can be approached.What is your approach to communicationfor this exhibition?Using performance… this art medium iscommunication.

Instruction Manual αlpha-DO 5004.2 Calibration in mg/l or ppm of OxygenThe DO Transmitter is capable of calibration of up to 2 points for dissolvedoxygen. All new calibration values will automatically override existingcalibration data. Make sure the unit of measurement is set to mg/l or ppm.(Refer Section 5.2 for switching unit of measurements).If you wish to abort the DO calibration, press ▲ and ▼ keys simultaneouslyand the DO Transmitter reverts to measurement mode.4.2.1 1-Point CalibrationThe 1-point calibration is done at high-point using 8.24 mg/l of dissolvedoxygen solution.HOLDCAL1ENTHOLDCAL2ENTREADYHOLDCAL3mg/lENTMEASREADY4mg/l°CATCCAL2Measured value should bewithin +/- 50 % of high-pointCAL+HOLDHOLDmg/lERRCalibration error occurs if measured valueis not within +/- 50% of high-pointduring 1-point calibration1 From measurement mode press CAL key to enter calibration mode asdescribed in section 4.1. The LCD shows ‘CAL Do’. Press ENT key tobegin calibration.2 Select 1-point calibration: The display shows ‘1Pt CAL’. If ‘2Pt CAL’ isshown, press ▲ or ▼ key to select ‘1Pt CAL’.Press ENT key to confirm the selection.3 The buffer annunciator appears in LCD. The lower display shows ‘HI’,indicating the high-point is being calibrated. Immerse the electrode in8.24 mg/l dissolved oxygen solution. Immerse the temperature probe inthe solution if ATC is enabled. The upper display shows the measuredvalue of dissolved oxygen of the solution. Allow the reading to stabilize.LCD shows ‘READY’ annunciator when the reading is stable.Press ▲ or ▼ key to adjust the reading to 8.24 mg/l. The Transmitterallows adjusting up to ±50% of the measured value.Press ENT key to confirm the reading.NOTE: The transmitter does not accept the calibration and showscalibration error if the displayed (measured) value is more than±50% of the high-point value.4 The calibration is completed. The DO Transmitter reverts tomeasurement mode.14

Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 2222 BOUCHE À OREILLEYINGMEI DUANNo, I never believe it. I believe if an organizationinvites artists, it is the art workwhich is of first and foremost importance,not because of the identity.I think sometimes there are both of reasonsbecause most of art organizationswant to make the exhibition international.But the art works are always the mostimportant, I believe!!! Since many years Ihave always been invited to show my performancesin different exhibitions, I believeI earn it because I always try to do mybest to open my creation.In your work you also take referenceto art history from many parts of theworld, for example your performancewhere you use a magnifying glass tosee the penis of a Caucasian man,who clearly stands in the pose of aGreek sculpture. Or, you went toSwaziland to do a research on polygamyand its history… This gives theimpression that the differentiationbetween western art and non westernart is not existent in your work?Yes, the differentiation between westernand non western art is not existent in mywork.Here you mentioned two different works.The first is the live performance “Friend”.It is interesting what you told me aboutthe pose of a Greek sculpture in the performance,actually I have never thoughtabout it.The second is the research on polygamy.In this work I do collaboration with oneartist Nelson Mapako, who is fromZimbabwe, but he lives in Swasiland. Aswe were talking on our concept, we cameto the topic of “Polygamy”, I am verycurious about polygamy, I do not knowwhy. I am really very interested in thisNaked / Live performanceDuration: 19 days, for 6 hrs. each dayWhitworth Art Gallery,Manchester, UK, 2009Photography: Marco Anelli


Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 25artist with whom you will still like towork with or expose with?Yes, if I begin to work together with oneartist, if we understand each other verywell, if we have interest in going on workingtogether, I will always like to go towork.Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung andYingmei Duan



Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 2828 BOUCHE À OREILLEVERENA KYSELKAfamous and hardly places of touristicattraction. The political and cultural traditionsof these places show similarities toher home, sufficing as enough reason forher to focus on these countries.„THE SO CALLED REALITY IS THERESULT OF COMMUNICATION“PAUL WATZLAWICKFor over many years Verena Kyselka hasbeen operating in a tense spectrum rangingfrom poetry, privacy and politics. Shetravels, researches, explores and collectsmaterials in foreign countries, which shelater transforms until they attain a stageof conversancy and acquaintance.Kyselka’s radius of action spans, from ageographical perspective, from Thuringiato Tasmania, Taiwan and Armenia tillAlbania. Generally, her interests lie inpost-socialist regions which are hardlyThus is the case of a journey to Tasmaniain 2003, where Verena Kyselka receivedan artist-in-residence grant. During thisjourney, she dreamt of the landscape ofher childhood in Thuringia which promptedher to later create a piece in relation toTasmania’s landscape. The appropriationof the foreign over the acquainted thusbecame the starting point of a self-madelandscape which she coined„Tasthuringmania“.Reminiscences of the GDR, of her fatherwhom she wrote fanciful letters during hisStasi-remand, were reactivated in 2005 ina video installation piece. A fictive corre-Territory ofintimacy / forbidden kissesVideostill 2008


Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 3030 BOUCHE À OREILLEVERENA KYSELKAspondence developed when she was confrontedwith the place anew. Her Stasidossiercomprising of denunciation protocolsproved to be banal, narrow-mindedwish-wash about the artist’s subsistence/existence and later inspired her to confrontthe perception of the IM with herown cognition in 2007. In an installation in2008 she showed that the sum of all energiesdo not change in art as well. Here,she reanimated the banned avant-gardefeminist performance group, Exterra XX, ofwhich she belonged at the end of the 80s.In this same year, Verena Kyselka commenceda project entitled „Territory ofIntimacy“, and which was conceived as„work in progress“. All art pieces followingthis were subsumed under this headline.A phenomenon in the Albanian film historyof the Hoxha era exerted a peculiar appealon Mrs. Kyselka. It is the prohibition of the“French kiss” that provoked her to giveher video work the sub-title “Forbiddenkisses”. The state sanctioned kiss-ban betweencouples of different gender in theinvestigated films had an unwanted effect.In Kyselka’s video the erotic appeal ofgaze, touch and dialogues between menand women became unintentionally a centralissue, by omitting the actual corpusdelicti – namely kisses – and thereforeeven gained an upgrading, such that thescenes obtained a new-found erotic tension.In order to research on the concept ofhome Verena Kyselka set off for Yerevan,in the conflict-torn border area Nogorno-Karabakh and interviewed refugees aboutthe concept of home. This project wasnamed “Trans-caucasian identification”.The interviews revealed the long-standing,deep-rooted trauma that arose frombanishment and genocide.Using photography and video-films VerenaKyselka documents her “findings” whichare usually of such high political brisancewhich sometimes results in the prematureclosing of her exhibitions, as was the casein Albania and Taiwan or in Armenia,where the Sponsors contemplated on withdrawingthe financial support for herproject.To come to the conclusion that VerenaKyselka is a political artist would be tooshort-sighted. The ‘personal’ is in her viewpolitical or results from the chosen context.She sees herself rather as a traveler.This offers more possibilities for communicationwith people and objects.Communication is in market economy primarilypublic relation, a prevalent meanswith the aim: to sell the right product at

Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 31the right time to the right place with theright quality for the right price. Public relationis also involved in the art market,with the zeitgeist und the market dominatingcommercial galleries and the dictationof the media. That’s why artists and theart market do not always come along.Especially, when artists, like VerenaKyselka, defy the conventional art dictate.Her production process is a protracted,often life-long self-clarification process,which is still authentic and comprehensiblefor the beholder. She optimizes her picturelanguage step-by-step. Whereby, languageseems to be only a useful accessory. Or asLaurie Anderson once said: „I do notunderstand languages, I just listen to theirsounds“.At this point it is still worth mentioning athird form of communication. About theway the artist communicates with her art– indirect – as language and pictures arecoded information. Often, sad incidentsare transformed in Kyselka’s works andthese incidents gain a new positive meaningthrough their expanded angle of view.Verena Kyselka’s work is about the quietsound of pictures. She counteracts, hereby,not only the economically inclinedcommunication.Birgit Rauschenbach (Curator/Consultant)Although she uses the technical possibilitiesof this media age, they play a rathersubordinate role in her artistic process.

Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 3232 BOUCHE À OREILLEVERENA KYSELKAINTERVIEWNowadays one immediately thinks of visualcommunication, marketing, data interchange,languages, competences, problems,disturbed communication, supervisionetc. I am more interested in the subtlecommunication forms in the everydaylife and in the intercultural context.We know of cases where artists likeVito Acconci or Charlotte Posenenskestopped doing art because they discoveredthat art had no effect on oursocial or political conditions… what doyou think about this? Should art havesuch an impact?When I was writing the concept for“Bouche à Oreille” I had a couple ofyour works in mind, like your installations“pigs like pigments” or “has myletter arrived”. What role does communicationplay in your works?Yes, I noticed this and I smiled when Iread your concept ?. Actually, I didn’tthink about communication as a singletopic yet. Of course you can find in manyof my works something, which dealssomehow with communication. The conceptof communication is very general.Your works seem to have a verystrong social and political message…In pieces like “territory of intimacy”or “an artist as an enemy” you clearlydraw a link between art and socialstructures. Will you describe your ascentering around a socio-political aesthetic?Yes, in the last years I am more and morefocused on this. This has developed fromthe resources of the contemporary historyand the dealing with my own experiences.The fact that some artists stopped makingart as a protest is art as well. Interestingart is created to reassess the present timeand society, to recognize and to detectnew connections…I invited Yingmei Duan to do an exhibitionat the SAVVYCONTEMPORARY art space, and shedecided to invite you to do a co-operationin this project. What exactly isit about Yingmei’s work which promptedyou to accept her invitation to dothis project?

Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 33We already know each other for 15 yearsand we are friends. I know and estimateher development from a very good painterto a very good performance artist.I can imagine it is always a challengingtask to do an exhibition and evencreate new works with somebodyelse… where or what was your startingpoint in this co-operation withYingmei?The starting point was our understandingand our misunderstandings. Although wego back a long way our communication issometimes not easy, but it has to do withour characters and different perspectives.If I am not mistaken, you often cooperatewith other artists in yourwork as an artist…What normally instigates you to do aco-operation and what is generallyyour common ground with the co-operationpartner?The cooperation with other artists is mainlybased on projects.There is a main idea in a concept; differentworks of every single artist developfrom this.So, what are you planning to exposein the exhibition at SAVVYCONTEMPORARY?A work-in-progress in different media.If I understand well, you are planningto present works of different media…video, photography and performance.Do you normally work with all thesemedia or is this a novice for Savvy?I have always enjoyed moving betweenvarious genres and working in variousmedia simultaneously. I have come to realizethat the refined selection of the appropriatemedium is decisive for implementingartistic ideas.Also, you are planning to do lecturesand other performances in the courseof the exhibition… can you please tellus something about that?We wouldn’t like to limit our work in collaborationonly to the opening of the exhibition,which is usual mostly in exhibition.This is often boring, the works are fixed inthe space and you are hastening away tothe next exhibition. No, the work shouldarise and be modified. We try to achievethis with installation, performance andwould like to involve the special environmentof the location Neukölln.

Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 3434 BOUCHE À OREILLEVERENA KYSELKAThere are many perspectives fromwhich the topic of communication orlack of communication can be approached.What is your approach to communicationfor this exhibition?As I said before the misunderstandingsand understandings in a strength conversationwill be shown in a sound piece.There is also a video installation aboutcommunication with objects. Another issueis the alienation based on communication.In your installation “territory of intimacy”which you did in Albania, youinvestigated the influence of the thenreigning political dictatorship on art(movies) and their effect on the manifestationof intimacy in public. Canyou please tell us about this project?Yes, I was deeply interested in the issue.What impact hdoes a long-time heteronomy,dictatorship and self-isolation have oninterpersonal relations? After I discoveredthe ban of kissing, it became obvious thatthere are no kisses in the socialist reality,a reflection, I think, coming from the statecontrolled and censored movies of theHoxha regime.During my research at the National Filmarchive Tirana I watched between 25-30Albanian movie productions from 1960-1992, which included a love story. Theerotic or close moments between loverswere limited to eye contacts, soft touches,brief hugs and friendly kisses. I also noticedthat there were even more touchesand kisses between men than betweenwomen and men.By the way, the so called “brother kiss” offriendship, peace and solidarity also happenedbetween politicians of the socialistMen touchesVideostill 2008


Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 3636 BOUCHE À OREILLEVERENA KYSELKAcommunity of states.To make clear the point that also the privacywas under state control, I didn’t analyzethe entire film context, only the eroticparts. That’s why I cut out these sequencesand reviewed them after.The material used comes originally frommovies of the time of dictatorship until thepolitical turn. Additionally, I have involvedthe last kiss in the film “Tana” (1958) witha length of only 2,5 seconds and coveredby the letters of the final credits, and thefirst kiss in “Vdeka e Kalit” (1992) with 5,8seconds of duration.Also, it is well known that the Stasihad a file on you, which you thematizein your piece “pigs like pigments”.How much does your experience inthe GDR have on your work as anartist?My development as an artist started in theunderground art scene of the GDR undersurveillance. This has stamped me a bit ofcourse. When the topic of the project orshow touch the contemporary history orsimilar aspects of surveillance and repressionsor in the case of my East Europeprojects I like to compare with and toreflect on my own experiences.Your video on the feminist group inthe GDR “Exterra XX” reminded me ofthe exhibition “elle@centrepompidou”,which is about works of female artistsin the collection of the CentrePompidou.Is the position of female artists todayin the art world or art market also anissue to you?Is this issue going to be of any relevancefor you work in the SavvyContemporary?It is only relevant if I notice any iniquitiesbased on the Gender. I made the experiencewith a female artist group with alladvantages and disadvantages and I workedwith male artist groups as well. Thiswas very strong too. I don’t work with agender position in the foreground. If it isnecessary because of an occasion, then Ilike to emphasis it.Does “western art - non western art”play a role or has it played a role inany way in your work as an artist? I.e.do you believe sometimes you areinvited to exhibitions because you arean artist from the GDR and not becauseof your work?Not any more. I was interested in“western art” when I grew up in EastGermany with socialist realism surroundingme. I was only booked as an artist with

Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 37the GDR experiences in two shows becauseof the anniversary of the collapse ofEast Germany. The other shows werebased on the work.In your work you also make referencesto places like Albania, Taiwan orTasmania…This gives the impression that a geographicaldemarcation is not really atopic in your work?I am interested in different cultures inorder to work, to link and to make a comparisonbetween them.Is your identity as an artist affiliatedin any way to your nationality?No, I have rather difficulties with myGerman nationality …From your subjective point of view, isthere a discrepancy between art fromthese geographical regions?When I understand rightly, there is no discrepancybetween arts here and there.You did restoration of paintings beforedeciding to study fine art. How didyou come about this metamorphosis?This was not a metamorphosis. I was notallowed to enter university in the GDRbecause of my father, who was arrestedand a political enemy. Branded by thisincident I completed a vocational trainingas a restorer under the protective roof ofthe protestant church in this time. But Ilearned very much about techniques ofpaintings and art history.

Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 3838 BOUCHE À OREILLEVERENA KYSELKAIs there an exact point when onebecomes an artist? When and howexactly did you find out that you werean artist or when and how did youdecide to become an artist?The exact point was when for the firsttime I realized I said to someone “I am anartist”. Then you really feel you are anartist now. And this is really a decision.Japan, UK, Ireland and Germany which Iwould like to realize.Thank you! Is there any question youwill like me to pose or you will like meto answer?You are an artist and curator. How is it foryou to curate such an exhibition while youmust renounce to make your art?You have been a part of several internationalexhibitions e.g.re.act.feminism in the Akademie derKuenste Berlin or in several museumpresences in England, Switzerland orGerman … Is there any artist withwhom you will still like to work withor expose with?Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung andVerena KyselkaExterra XX5-channel-video installation5 monitors, DVD - Loopduration 11 min, 2008There are some open projects in collaborationwith artists for instance from Taiwan,




Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 4242 BOUCHE À OREILLEBOUCHE À OREILLE IN TIMES OFINTERNET BASED COMMUNICA-TIONIn 2007 the Georg von HolzbrinckPublishing Group paid an amount of morethan two million Euros to own studiVZ, anonline-forum which connects students.This shows the great importance of suchnetworks attributed by the economy. 1StudiVZ, which has over 10 million usersat the moment, was founded reminiscentto the American student networkFacebook, by a flat- sharing community inPrenzlauer Berg, Berlin in 2005. Facebookis the fastest growing internet communicationnetwork in the world. It was foundedin 2004 by the then 19 year old Harvardstudent Mark Zuckerberg and has over 90million users as to date.The enormous success of those networksis hard to explain: Fast-paced technicaladvances in the course of the 20 th and 21 stcentury caused a strong change in the useof media in today's society. The access tovirtual platforms which is spatio-temporallyunbounded and the fact that the biologicalage plays no decisive role for participationprovokes a large expansion of virtualtarget groups and participants.Additionally, our society’s permanent „selfreference“(„Ich-Bezogenheit“)3 is enunciatingitself in unlimited presentation andfocusing on one’s particular user-profile inthese networks. Finally, new forms andpossibilities of communication offered byonline- platforms play a determining rolefor its million-fold user reception.To send mails, to chat, to skype, to pokeor „gruscheln“– communication in the nethas conceived a lot of new terms to nameits ways of communication which ostensiblyor at first sight do not have anything incommon with bouche à oreille, in German„Mund-zu-Mund-Propaganda“(“mouth tomouth”) or „Flüsterpost“(“whisper downthe lane”). Virtual communication is missingan essential aspect of bouche à oreille:The real, corporeal nearness which ariseswhen e.g. children in kindergarten aresitting together in a circle of chairs playing„whisper down the lane “, while a word iscarried from mouth to ear. Bouche à oreillepossesses above all an aspect of socialnearness.It is interesting that head hunters insearch of the adequate employee on virtu-


Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 4444 BOUCHE À OREILLEal social communities, do believe that thefact that a candidate has 10 or 100 friendsin Facebook predicates a lot about his orher ability of making contacts, of an existingor non-existing communication talentand his/her ways of getting informed inreal life. Experts and communicationresearcherlike Nicola Döring are thereforedefining internet-based communication asmedium supplementing existing forms ofcommunication between people that alreadyknow each other and communicate witheach other in a direct non-virtual way byproviding them communication independentof time or zone borders. 4Focusing on the communication tools onFacebook, one can see – disregarding theaspect of physical proximity – how closesome of them come to the result of boucheà oreille: The platform is programmedto be set for the "main page" which alwaysshows the latest changes of a user's ownactivities as well as those of his "friends“.If I as a Facebook user participates in anevent, then all my "friends" get –intentionallyor not – a notification onto their mainpage. This fast, and in a way, direct communicationto my "friends" extends thecommunication to “mouth to mouth”: Anincident – such as the participation in anevent – will spread quickly and on shortroutes over to my Facebook contactswithout being able to stop or undo themomentum of communication once set inmotion, even if I decided not to attend theevent. (Facebook does not mention nonparticipation.)Communication on the"main page" is similar to the result of abouche à oreille or to the children's game“whisper down the lane”: The first whowhispers a message into the ear of thesecond has no influence on the speed ofdissemination or truth of the message inthe end.The inventors of online portals tried tocompensate the lack of emotional andphysical closeness with some entirely newconcepts that should help to express thisneed: Gruscheln on studiVZ – although theinventors do not even know exactly howthis form of communication is defined. Onthe support page of the online portal, thequestion “What is Gruscheln?” get's onlyan unsatisfactory response from the networkoperator: "Good question, we do notknow exactly. Gruscheln can not be explained,Gruscheln must be explored...! Justtry it! If you want to Gruscheln someone,you must first find him and next to hisprofile you will then find the appropriatelink. 5Even if there is no official definition, asshown here, for this form of communicationthe groups of the portal and relatedinternet bloggers agreed on an interpretationthat defines Gruscheln in connection


Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 4646 BOUCHE À OREILLEwith the words greeting and cuddling. 6Gruscheln would consequently be the firstattempt at a virtual nonverbal level tocommunicate using gestures, facialexpressions and to touch someone virtuallyin order to break through the onedimensionalityof a virtual network.However, the intimacy of a real bouche àoreille will never be reached virtually.Undoubtedly, the technical innovations ofsaid online networks alter the way of communicationand sustained communicationstructures of our media based society andwill constantly change them. That is tosay, technological change has allowed aprogressive convergence of individual andmass-communication, affecting forms andcontents of our societies´ communication,as well as our communication offers andcommunication habits. Conversely, thismeans that the state or the nature of asociety depends critically on the meansand ways of communication at its disposal.It should be noted that these media are onthe one hand conveying between people –in this case between the users of an onlineportal – on the other hand they stand betweenthe users, forcing their (technical)conditions on them.The hunger for technologically based communicationin all cross-media species alreadyoffered by online portals is totallyunbroken and perhaps is explainable withthe fact that online portals such asStudiVZ and Facebook are a whole newkind of entertainment: they open up newopportunities for communication, interactionand entertainment. At the same timethey give the users the illusion of neverreally being without personal conjunctionwith those to be, but constantly playing ina bouche à oreille- or “whisper down thelane”- chain. There lies the attraction formillions of people worldwide, as well asthe basic prerequisite for continuous changeand evolvement of communication.Claudia Lamas CornejoM.A. Arts and Media Administration_1Vgl.: „Holtzbrinck kauft StudiVZ.“ Aufwww.spiegel-online.de vom 3.1. 20072Vgl.: Facebook statistics auf:http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics vom 6.7.20083Schulze, Gerhard: Die Erlebnisgesellschaft.4Nicola Döring (2003): Sozialpsychologie desInternet. Hogrefe, Göttingen (2. Auflage)Nicola Döring (1997): Kommunikation imInternet. Neun theoretische Ansätze. In: B.Batinic: Internet für Psychologen. Göttingen:Verlag für Psychologie. S. 267–2985Vgl.: www.studivz.net6Vgl.: www.gruscheln.net vom 4.7.2008




Savvy_Katalog.qxd:Katalog.qxd 15.04.2010 18:03 Uhr Seite 5050 BOUCHE À OREILLEBOUCHE À OREILLEYINGMEI DUAN + VERENA KYSELKACurated by Dr. Bonaventure SohBejeng NdikungPUBLISHERSAVVY CONTEMPORARY –the laboratory of form ideasArt Director - Bonaventure SohBejeng NdikungEvents Director - Stefan FuhrmannPICTURESProvided by Y. Duan and V. KyselkaTEXTSJürgen Bernhard Kuck -Performance as communication - Texton Yingmei DuanBirgit Rauschenbach - „The so calledreality is the result of communication“Paul Watzlawick - Text onVerena KyselkaClaudia Lamas Cornejo - Bouche àoreille in times of internet based communicationBonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung– Exhibition concept “BOUCHE ÀOREILLE”, all interviews and translationof texts on Duan and KyselkaCONTACTSAVVY Contemporary, Richard Str.43/44, Berlin-Neuköllnwww.savvy-contemporary.comACKNOWLEDGMENTSStefan Fuhrmann, Claudia LamasCornejo, Cilgia Gadola, HannahChaker, Robert Würz, KulturamtNeukölln© 2010 the authors© 2010 of reproduced images:the artistsPrinted in Germany

bouche Ã oreille - SAVVY Contemporary

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