GENESIS

"Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so.

Genesis is the title and the topic of the new Performance cycle by Angelika Fojtuch and Johannes Deimling. The Duo Performances are totally reduced to the tools of the bodies. The artists name it the acting of the “homoperformer” and term this the pure performative act, without the attitudes of theatre or show. The research field for this performances is the world of the animals, their attitudes, their sounds and their movements. How strange, silly and at once wonderfull this behaviours can be for human eyes.

During this Performances there are moments where the viewpoint changes. From oberserving humans that makes animal movements to see suddenly animals that behaves like men or women.

In the jungle of civillisation the artists observe the homosapiens as a creature that with funny and silly attitudes, came for example close to the behaviour of a copulationdance of spiders. Is just the instinct and the useable mind the difference, or are we closer together than we think? In the performance of Fojtuch and Deimling are various of moments where the borders blur. The amazing sound of an gorilla that defends his territorium you can also hear in a neighbours fight, or a bear mother, that defends his childern, you can also observe on the streets in cities. And what is around with all these tigerdresses, crocodile bags and snake shoes?

Angelika Fojtuch and  Johannes Deimling create an intelligent and anthropological art piece showing that in our technological world we are still that nacked biological creatures. Creatures with simple feelings and animally structures, that are crying, sweating, happy, stinky, produceing liquids, that are not that “hyperhuman” with more possibilities, even gentechnology and biotechnics influence our bodies...

I wonder what would have been happend if the God had said: Animals, make the human beings to your subject.

Text by Eduard Fried 2006 

GENESIS

Die Erde bringe hervor lebendiges Getier, ein jedes nach seiner Art: Vieh, Gewürm und Tiere des Feldes, ein jedes nach seiner Art. Und es geschah so.

Genesis ist Thema und Titel einer Reihe von neuen Performances von Angelika Fojtuch und Johannes Deimling. Die Duo-Performances sind völlig auf die natürlichen Werkzeuge des Körpers reduziert. Die Künstler nennen es das Handeln des „Homoperformers“ und bezeichnen damit den puren performativen Akt ohne theatrales Gebärden. Das Forschungsfeld für diese Performances ist die Welt der Tiere, deren Verhalten, deren Geräusche und deren Bewegungen. Wie fremd, komisch und gleichzeitig wundervoll tierisches Verhalten für menschliche Augen sein kann.

Während der Performance gibt es zahlreiche Momente an denen sich der Blickpunkt verändert. Vom Beobachten von Menschen die tierische Bewegungen machen zum plötzlichen Betrachten von Tieren die sich wie eine Frau oder ein Mann benehmen.

Im Dschungel der Zivilisation beobachten die beiden Künstler den Homosapiens als eine Kreatur mit lustigem und komischem Verhalten, das zum Beispiel dem Kopulationstanz  von Spinnen ähnelt.

Ist es nur der Instinkt und das denkende Gehirn was uns unterscheidet oder sind beide Gattungen ähnlicher als wir annehmen (wollen)?

In den Performances von Fojtuch und Deimling gibt es mehr als einen Moment, indem die Grenzen verschwimmen. Der erstaunende Schrei eines Gorillas kann man auch im Nachbarschaftsstreit hören  und die Bären Mutter die Ihre Kinder verteidigt ist auch auf den Strassen der Städte zu beobachten.  Und was hat es mit dem Tigerkleid, der Krokodiltasche und den Schlangenhaut Schuhen auf sich?

Angelika Fojtuch und  Johannes Deimling kreieren mit GENESIS ein intelligentes, anthropologisches Kunstwerk welches aufzeigt, dass wir in unserer technologischen, fortschrittlichen Welt doch nur diese nackten biologischen Kreaturen sind. Kreaturen mit einfachen Gefühlen und tierischen Strukturen, die weinen, schwitzen, glücklich sind, stinken und Säfte produzieren, das wir nicht die „Hyper“ Menschen sind mit mehr Möglichkeiten, auch wenn Gentechnologie und Biotechnik unseren Körper beeinflussen.

Ich wundere mich, was passiert wäre, wenn Gott gesagt hätte: Tiere, macht Euch die Menschen Untertan.

Text von Eduard Fried 2006

Genesis III, Galerie Nord, Berlin 2006

Genesis IV, 9th interakcje, Piotrków Trybunalski 2007

Duration 26 minutes

Description of action She clings on the front of his body, while he crawls on all fours into the room. From time to to he hiss and look directly in the eyes of the visitors. There he stops and tries to shake off the clinging body. After a time of heavy shaking she falls on the floor, suddenly she turns quickly around and walks like a cat through the audience and rub her head and neck on the legs of the vistors until she reaches the gallery wall. Her head buffets on it, but she keeps on crawling and didn´t get nowhere fast. He beats with his both clenched fists on his breast and shouts. He all the time face the audience. The shouts are very impressive and loud. She stands up and dance like a kind of bird while shaking her arms on the back. He is walking animal like quickly through the room and smells on the female visitors and finally comes closer to her. He starts breathing very strongly and tries to copulate with her. She tries to escape and makes sounds of fear. She is moving on the floor and she makes wiered sounds of spilling. His right hand is a clenched fist, that he hold infront of his eyes and moves it a little. His view focuses the eyes of the male visitors.  After a while he goes to her and lick her arms and face. She calmes down and crawls on the back of him. Out of her mouth she spills a couple of white small eggs on the floor. He is motionless. She crawls on the floor and both collect the eggs on one place. Now they start to bite through the eggs. He walks on all fours like a spider around and after a while she do the same. Suddenly both are shaking their bodies hardly up and down. While shanking they lay down their bodies on the floor and thrash around like fishes on the land. The movements get less and less and stop after a while.

Photos: Dr. E Fried und Johannes Lothar Schroeder