Mila Balzhieva * Kyungrim Lim Jang * Natalia Papaeva
Soft Opening 04.08.2022 5 – 9 pm
Opening Performance by Natalia Papaeva 04.08.2022 7 pm
Workshop by Natalia Papaeva 05.08.2022 5 – 7 pm
Lecture by Kyungrim Lim Jang 27.08.2022
Duration of the show 05.08. – 27.08. 2022
A Cooperation with WORM
The exhibition UNFIXING presents three video works by three artists who don’t live in the land they were born and raised in. To move to another land means to move with the language and be confronted with a new language. This encounter between different systems of signs, sounds, and beliefs often accompanies moments of a sharp clash, through which the power dynamic between the systems is revealed. In UNFIXING, Mila Balzhieva, Kyungrim Lim Jang, and Natalia Papaeva explore how the language reflects the physical borders of contemporary while rearticulating them at the same time.
In an attempt to clean the language from the derogatory connotation that is stuck in the word “Mongol,” (in many European countries) Natalia Papaeva moves racist language to an erasable surface. Posing as a teacher at glance, the artist repetitively writes down the slurs she received in the streets of the Netherlands. The video begins with stuttering Dutch “I, I, I, I am…”-when translated into English. Through repetition, the artist dissects the language into sound which is simultaneously transferred on the chalkboard. In “Ik ben,,,” collected repetition is made visible through the performative writing, which results in a jumble of words that looks somewhat similar to a chewed up gumball.
Through “In language we don’t understand”, Mila Balzhieva reflects on the attitude of how humans enter the forest today. She retrieves the rules of her childhood in Western Siberia, where blending into the forest (as opposed to walking in, where the division between actor and background is clear) was key teaching in one’s approach to the unknown mysteries of nature. The artist applies this knowledge to the environment in her new home in Vienna, inviting the viewers to open their senses to active listening and careful touch.
“Crystal Clear” carries the experiences of Nita Tandon, a female artist who migrated from India to Vienna in the 70s. Her story is vocally performed by Tyrolean author Annemarie Regensburger. By weaving the story of a foreigner in a local tongue, Kyungrim Lim Jang seeks to unsettle the status of belonging embedded in the performance of a dialect. The artist questions expectations for a performance of ‘authentic’ identity and points her finger inwards the fuzzy borders within, between us/them.
Curatorial Text Kyungrim Lim Jang
