Deadpan Exchange

Photos by Victoria Lucas and Heidi Hove

This is London, performance, 20’, 2012, by Lina Lapelyte.

Lina Lapelyte lives and works in London and Vilnius. She is an artist, composer, musician and performer currently exploring the phenomena of song. Lina Lapelyte has been exhibiting and performing at the Ikon (Birmingham); BBC proms(London); Tate modern (London); CAC (Vilnius), Skopje Bienalle (Skopje); Royal Festival Hall (London); Spor (Aarhus); Echoraum (Wien); Holland Festival (Amsterdam).

Arūnas Gudaitis: Vilnius Postcards, 10 color postcards, offset print, 2009.

Vilnius Postcards, a series of photos, is a response to The Vilnius Notebook by artist Mindaugas Navakas – utopian sculptural interpretations of the city (1981-1986). After more than 20 years, the images of Vilnius are reconstructed in the form of postcards characteristic to 1970’s style. It allows us to experience the same situations anew and reveal an ideological basis of the selected objects and their transformation.

Arūnas Gudaitis is reacting to the work of Jana Jakimovska (MK), Skopje 2014, from Deadpan Exchange VI.

Laura Stasiulytė Suspended in the air, 2-channel video loop, 2012.

Laura Stasiulytė is interested in the act of separation – knocking off one from the many – and the exact moment before the particle is going down… the moment of overhang and disorientation.

This is a fraction of a second, as seen in the videos, when the pendulum impacts the corn and floats into the air.  It becomes “intoxicated and lost” for some time (a thousandth part of a second), without being moved to one direction or the other and remains floating in the air.

The same is true of the basketball, which has been thrown out into the air and accidentally stacked in a giant kinetic public sculpture (a weathercock).  It keeps moving “forever” at the whim of the wind direction.

Laura Stasiulytė is reacting to the work of Maja Kirovska (MK), Sisyphus Where is the exit?, from Deadpan Exchange VI.

Aistė Valiūtė and Daumantas Plechavičius Ultra Vires, interactive object-installation, plastic box, tablet PC, speakers, 2012.

Ultra Vires* is an interactive installation which does nothing but usurp the audience’s attention with irritating measures: it keeps on weeping as long as no one is looking at it. Equipped with custom programmed computer vision software, the insistent system monitors the audience’s faces. Once it detects a gaze, it rewards the spectator with silence. What is done with the catch at the other side of the wire, however, is left as an open-ended story. The installation is the satire of contemporary capitalist reality.  It is a reality that has been forced onto the consumers’ aimless time and brain resources.

* Ultra vires is a Latin phrase meaning literally “beyond the powers”. If an act requires legal authority and it is done without such authority, it is characterized in law as ultra vires.

Aistė Valiūtė and Daumantas Plechavičius is reacting to the work of Maja Kirovska (MK), Sisyphus Where is the exit?, from Deadpan Exchange VI.

Lina Lapelyte ‘Candy Shop’ video, 3’47’’. This is London, performance, 20’, 2012.

Candy Shop is a song by 50-Cent and Lina Lapelyte; this is London is a song by Akala and Lina Lapelyte. Both of the songs belong to the series of videos and performances also called Candy Shop by Lina Lapelyte. In Candy shop Lapelyte revisits well-known hip hop songs and uses her own voice and folk song like melodies to question gender and the mundane. Using song as an object Lina examines the issues of displacement, otherness and beauty. Re-enactment supports her investigation into aesthetics, control and reality.

Lina Lapelyte is reacting to MK artist, Ilija Prokopievs’ work “Untitled”, from Deadpan Exchange VI.

Robertas Narkus The Absent audience show, sound installation, 2012.

In the early 1950’s a sound engineer Charley Douglas invented a “sweetening” technique, which is commonly known as a use of an additional laugh track to “enhance” the laughter for television audiences. Robertas Narkus re-contextualizes this method and brings the laugh track to the gallery space.

Robertas Narkus is reacting to the work of Zorica Zafirovska (MK) from Deadpan Exchange VI

Milda Zabarauskaitė, Untitled, digital print 21×28, 2012.

Milda wraps up the words “All beauty will die” used by Velimir around her hand transforming the text into an object, which reminds of a bracelet. Through this transformation the text transgress from the realm of language to the sphere of object hood.

Milda Zabarauskaite reacts to the wall text piece of Velimir Zhernovski (MK) from Deadpan Exchange VI.

Akvilė Anglickaitė, The Letter, video 4’34’’, 2012.

The text in the film is a letter from a woman taken from the Soviet woman’s magazine “Tarybinė Moteris” (The Soviet woman). The magazine issue is from the year of 1982, the year I was born. The letter is an observation of everyday life subtly with propaganda that seems a bit ridiculous from today’s perspective.  It is unclear whether woman’s experience is real or fiction. The voice-over with American English accent makes these observations even more absurd and questionable. They are as questionable and absurd as the attempts to create communist society everywhere. The images will speak for themselves.

Akvilė Anglickaitė is reacting to the work of Angel Miov (MK) from Deadpan Exchange VI

Above and from the left:

Maja Kirovska: “Sisyphus! Where is the exit?”, video-installation, TRT: 2:21 min, 2011. Maja Kirovska is reacting to the work of Nur Muskara from Deadpan Exchange V

Angel Miov: “At the Side of a Suicide” video, TRT: 2:38 min, 2011. Angel Miov is reacting to the work of Elcin Ekinci from Deadpan Exchange V

Gjorgje Jovanovic: “Poverty and Creativity”, a series of photographs, advertisements and articles, various dimensions, 2011. Gjorgje Jovanovic is reacting to the work of Suat Ogut from Deadpan Exchange V

Ilija Prokopiev: “Untitled”, 11 drawings, framed, 18 x 24 cm, acrylic and watercolor on paper, 2011. Ilija Prokopiev is reacting to the work of Fatma Chiftci from Deadpan Exchange V

Jana Jakimovska: Skopje 2014, six postcards, 2011. Jana Jakimovska is reacting to work of Esra Okyay from Deadpan Exchange V

Velimir Zhernovski: “All Beauty Will Die”, wall text, 2011. Velimir Zhernovski is reacting to the work of Mehmet Dere from Deadpan Exchange V

Zorica Zafirovska: “Invisible” Ink on large scale paper at the VGAC Gallery and stencils in the public space in Vilnius, 2011. Zorica Zafirovska is reacting to the work of Nejat Sati from Deadpan Exchange V

Installation views of the exhibition

Deadpan Exchange Presentations and Talks

Deadpan Exchange Video-screening

The facade of the VGAC Gallery, Vilnius (LT)

Deadpan Exchange VI: Vilnius
Organized by Heidi Hove (DK) and Jonn Herschend (US)

Vilnius Graphic Art Centre, Latako str. 3, Vilnius

Featuring the work of Velimir Zernovski (MK), Gjorgje Jovanovik (MK), Maja Kirovska (MK), Jana Jakimovska (MK), Zorica Zafirovska (MK), Ilija Prokopiev (MK) and Matej Bogdanovski (MK).

Curated by Ksenija Cockova (MK)

Opening and Presentation of the Deadpan Exchange series: Saturday November 5, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Deadpan Exchange Video-screening: Sunday November 6, 2011 at 4:00 pm

Excerpts from the Lithuanian press release:

Tarptautinis kultūrinių renginių ciklas „Deadpan Exchange“ 2007 m. prasidėjo Vokietijoje ir Danijoje. VI-ojoje tęstinio projekto dalyje Vilniaus grafikos meno centre pristatoma septynių Makedonijos menininkų kūryba. Parodoje eksponuojami darbai yra reakcija ir atsakas į „Deadpan Exchange V“ parodoje Makedonijoje (CK kultūros centras, Skopjė, 2010) pristatytą Turkijos menininkų kūrybą.

Kiekvieno „Deadpan Exchange“ pasirodymo metu menininkai iš skirtingų šalių keičiasi sausojo humoro(angl. deadpan) sąmojais. Sausasis humoras – tai humoro forma, kuomet sąmojis žiūrovui yra pateikiamas be emocijų ar veido išraiškos pasikeitimų, kalbant monotonišku balsu. Tokį humorą yra sudėtinga interpretuoti bei sunkiau suprasti, ar matyta scena buvo komedija ar tragedija.

Meno istorijos kontekste tokio pobūdžio kūryba nėra naujiena. „Deadpan Exchange“ dalyviai įkvėpimo sėmėsi iš sausojo humoro strategijų, kurias XX a. 7-ojo dešimtmečio pradžioje naudojo daugelis žymių kūrėjų, pvz.: Yoko Ono, Martha Rosler, Bas Jan Ader, Vito Acconci, Gordon Matta Clark, Lygia Clark ir Helio Oiticica. Savo darbais jie siekė atsisakyti formalių institucijų bei modernaus meno pasaulio primetamų taisyklių vardan demokratiškesnės sąveikos su kūriniu.

Renginių serija „Deadpan Exchange“ siekia tarptautiniu mastu tirti sausojo humoro veiklos lauką. Renginio organizatoriai kelia klausimus: kas atsitinka, kai pradedi sąmojį vienoje šalyje, o atsakai į jį kitoje? Ar egzistuoja tarptautinė sausojo humoro kalba? Ar sausasis humoras yra visuotinis?
Autoriams svarbu pristatyti kūrinius, kurie įtrauktų bei skatintų žiūrovų interpretacijas. Organizatoriai siekia suburti skirtingų šalių menininkų grupes, kurios komunikuotų ir keistųsi dialogais, vargiai vykstančiais už formalių institucinių sienų.

Baigiantis „Deadpan Exchange VI“ renginiui septyni Lietuvos autoriai pateiks savo reakcijas į septynių parodoje Lietuvoje dalyvaujančių makedonų kūrybą. Šios reakcijos kartu su visais šio projekto metu sukurtais darbais 2012–2013 m. bus pristatytos paskutinėje „Deadpan Exchange“ parodoje Kopenhagoje.

Find more info at: http://www.graphic.lt

The exhibition has been supported by:

Artist Information by Gokce Suvari (TR):

Istanbul based artist Fatma Ciftci, in response to the work of Jennifer Wofford, is reproducing the unusual situations and scenes of different cities where she has been for a short time, through drawings and sound. These scenes, which have taken place in artist’s mind, refer to cultural diversity and its representations from Istanbul, Tehran, Seoul, and London. In this way she invites the viewer to think about the cultural codes and stereotypes that we face everyday.

Esra Okyay approaches the postcards produced by Tucker Nichols from another point (of view), particularly from the banality of the postcards, which are supposed to acknowledge the recipient and the existence of the sender in another place. Okyay, takes this proof of existence, the notion of being somewhere or being a tourist, by positioning herself as the main protagonist in these banal city images. Consequently the artist becomes the part of the cityscape as well as the historical monuments, landmarks or visual attractions by taking the role of an ultimate tourist. Hence the banality of the images gives the feeling that we cannot escape the imposed clichés of being a tourist.

Jon Rubin’s posters, which are composed of incidental messages about coincidences in daily life, are to be met with the volatile and coincidental photograph of Nur Muskara. Muskara responses to the work of Rubin with a playful and – almost surrealistic – miraculous image from everyday life. She depicts children from an industrial city bay swimming towards a navy ship with an incredible horizon, while giving us space to believe in daily spontaneous miracles.

In response to Ali Dagdar’s covered and censured images, Nejat Sati tries to un-cover or perhaps visualize what has been usually ignored on the public space. He depicts those who are ignored from the landscapes of city life: the homeless people. He puts the images of these sleeping people to night-lamps, while inviting the audience to re-look and consider how people use the public space.

With his series of photographs Suat Ogut, tries to explore the domestic life limited by conditions and technological developments. In his series, a response to Kristin Lucas’s craftsmanship series, he tries to re-create relationships as such:  human-machine, computer-vacuum cleaner and human-washing machine.

Mehmet Dere, being an artist working with urban symbols and slogans, offers the viewers various slogans from his neighborhood. Dere’s artistic practices are based mainly on the city. He focuses on interventions and observations within local culture of the city. For his work in Deadpan Exchange he offers a variety of statements that range from artistic to sociological.  He does this in order to create a social interaction. Mehmet Dere is responding to the work of Zachary Royer Scholz.

Elcin Ekinci’s video, in response to Lindsey White, plays both with the public performance as well as the representation of women in public. The emphasis of the female is exhibited through a Naumen-esk performance, which focuses the audience on the possibilities of a direct relationship without a cliché a response.

Press Release:

Deadpan Exchange V: Skopje
Organized by Heidi Hove (DK) and Jonn Herschend (US)

Cultural Center CK, Bul. Ilinden 38 1000 Skopje, Macedonia

Featuring the work of Elcin Ekinci (TR), Esra Okyay (TR), Fatma Ciftci (TR), Mehmet Dere (TR), Nejat Sati (TR), Nur Muskara (TR) & Suat Ogut (TR).

Coordinated by Gokce Suvari (TR)

Opening: Friday October 15, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Presentation of the Deadpan Exchange series: Saturday October 16, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Exhibition is open from October 16 – 29, 2010
Monday – Friday, 11 am – 7 pm

Excerpts from the Macedonian press release:

Изложбата со делата на седум уметници, кои живеат и работат во Турција, е петти дел од серијaлот на интернационална „Безизразна размена“ која започна во Данска и Берлин летото 2007. Во секоја од изложбите уметниците се активно вклучени во безизразната комуникација на давање и земање… како некој вид на размена во класичната комедија. Делата кои ќе бидат изложени во Културниот Центар ЦК од страна на седумте турски уметници, се реакција на делата на седум уметници од САД кои изложуваа во Измир во К2 Центарот за современа уметност во април 2009 на „Безизразна размена III“.

Безизразноста е форма на смешно пренесување во кое се претставува хуморот без притоа да се промени изразот на лицето и пришто најчесто се зборува на монотон начин. Гледачот е тој кој го носи товарот на интерпретацијата. Дали сцената е смешна или трагична?

Од уметничко-историска гледна точка безизразната стратегија ја користат многу уметници низ светот во раните 70ти: Јоко Оно, Марта Рослер, Бас Јан Адер, Вито Акончи, Гордон Мата Кларк, Лиџиа Кларк и др. Нивните дела беа формално одбивање на институциите и на светот на “модерната уметност” и се застапуваа за подемократска интеракција со делата. Во многу случаи делото кое било на работ на апсурдното и трагичното било претставено со целосно здрвено лице, наведувајќи го гледачот самиот да одлучи какво е тоа дело.

Серијалот на безизразни размени ја истражува оваа појава во глобални рамки. Што ако започнете шега во една земја и на неа ви одговорат во друга? Дали постои интернационален јазик на размена? Дали размената е универзална? Од политичка гледна точка, организаторите ги загрижува начинот на кој светот станува сè повеќе црно-бел, без простор за нешто сиво и збркано. Важно е да се нудат дела кои активно го предизвикуваат гледачот да ги интерпретира. Организаторите се заинтересирани да спојат различна група на уметници од различни места низ светот и да започнат дијалог кој можеби не би почнал надвор од формалните институции.

На крајот на „Безизразна размена V“, седум македонски уметници ќе создаваат дела како реакција на делата на седуммината турски уметници, и истите ќе бидат изложени во друга земја (која наскоро ќе биде дефинирана). Ќе има уште една размена и потоа крајна изложба во Копенхаген со делата на сите уметници во 2012 година.

For more information please visit: www.cdathouse.org.mk

DEADPAN EXCHANGE V has been supported by The Danish Arts Council

Deadpan Exchange IV opened at the K2 Contemporary Art Center in  Izmir, Turkey, on April 10.  The show runs until May 25, 2009  and features the work of Kristin Lucas (US), Tucker Nichols (US), Jenifer K Wofford (US), Zachary Royer Scholz (US), Jon Rubin (US), Lindsey White (US), and Ali Dadgar (IR/US)

Organized by Heidi Hove (DK) and Jonn Herschend (US), with collaborative support from Borga Kanturk (TK), Ozgul Sarikuş (TK), and Gokce Suvari (TK), the work presented by the seven US based artists is the fourth part in a series of international deadpan exchanges, which began in Denmark and Berlin in the summer of 2007. In each of the shows, the artists are actively involved in a give-and-take of deadpan communication… a sort of classic comedy exchange. The work exhibited here at K2 by the seven US artists is a reaction to the work of the seven Danish Artists from the Koh-i-noor, who exhibited in San Francisco at The Lab in February of 2007 for Deadpan Exchange III.

Deadpan is a form of comic delivery in which humor is presented without a change in emotion or facial expression, usually speaking in a monotonous manner. This puts the burden of interpretation on the viewer. Is the scene comedy or tragedy?

From an art historical standpoint, the shows take their cure from the deadpan strategies employed by artists in the early 1970’s throughout much of the world: Yoko Ono, Martha Rosler, Bas Jan Ader, Vito Acconci, Gordon Matta Clark, Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica… to name a few. Their works were a formal rejection of the institutions, the world of “Modern Art,” in favor of a more democratic interaction with the work. In many cases, the work–which often boarded on the absurd or tragic–was delivered with a complete straight face, forcing the viewer to decide how they felt about the work.

The Deadpan Exchange Series is probing this ground in a global way. What happens if you start a joke in one country and respond to it in another?  Is there an international deadpan language? Is deadpan universal?  From a political standpoint, the organizers are concerned with the way the world is becoming increasingly black and white without any room for something gray and muddled.  It is important to offer work that actively challenges the viewer to interpret the work for him or herself. And the Deadpan aesthetic offers a way to both engage and challenge the viewer at the same time. The organizers are also interested in bringing a diverse group of artists together from different places throughout the world and starting a dialogue that might not take place outside of formal institutions.

At the end of Deadpan Exchange IV, seven Turkish artists will create reactions to the works of the seven US artists, and these reactions will be exhibited in another country (the location of which is still being determined).  There will be 2 more exchanges and then a final exhibition in Copenhagen with all the artists’ works in 2011.

DEADPAN EXCHANGE IV has been made possible in part by The Danish Arts Council and a contribution from Russell Schwartz.

For those who haven’t seen the deadpan video-screening yet, please stop by at the exhibition site, Koh-i-noor (Copenhagen) on thursday the 6th of December 2007 at 7 pm. First, there’ll be a guest-performance by Katrine Dirckinck-Holmfeld (DK) and then afterwards, we’ll watch the Deadpan Exchange II video-screening, which were shown for the first time in superbien! this summer.

It will be possible to buy Glögg and other Danish Christmas goodies. Hope to see you for a nice time in Koh-i-noor together with some deadpan “entertainment”.

Video-artists: Jens Axel Beck (DK), Matthew Hughes Boyko (USA), Melissa Day (USA), Morten Dysgaard (DK), Morten Espersen (DK), Rosa Marie Frang (DK), Kara Hearn (USA), Stine Marie Jacobsen (DK), Ina Viola Blasius (DE), Dagmar Krøyer (DK), Kristin Lucas (USA), Mads Lynnerup (DK/USA), Cally Malinda Martin (USA), Tine Oksbjerg (DK), Susan O’Malley (USA), Dan Rees (DE/UK), Will Rogan (USA), Tina Scherzberg (DK), Tim Sullivan (USA), Anne Walsh (USA), Lindsey White (USA), Søren Assenholt (DK) og Marie Kolding Lund (DK)

On the 31st of October 2007, The Deadpan Exchange II video-screening from superbien! was shown at the Biffen – Art Cinema in Aalborg (DK). This event was organized by the artists, Tine Oksbjerg (DK) and Svend Allan Sørensen (DK).