Jörn J. Burmester

Thursday, October 5 @ VIVO Media Arts Centre

Durational Performance from Thursday to Saturday (TBC)

Artist Statement

Performance art to me is a strategy or an attitude rather than an art form or genre. I value the fact that there are no rules or techniques mandatory for performance making. The most valid definition for me is that performance art is whatever an artist claims it is.

I have been claiming that certain things I do are performance art since 1997. Back then, I was heavily influenced by, but disenchanted with traditional theatre. I wanted to do my own thing, which included life presentations, but none of the hierarchy, narration, mimesis and „as if“ of traditional theatre. I wanted to create situations that feel real, to myself and to my audiences.

In 2003 founded a network of local people interested in performances, and after a while colleagues who considered themselves visual artists joined. I began to think of the space we work in as an undefined area between visual arts and performing arts. Over the years my work has meandered between more theatrical and more visual approaches, heavily leaning towards primarily time and image based pieces in recent years.

Still, I often include text into my works. Adding fragments of text to the often abstract images that my actions create provides an additional layer of information for the viewer to process. The text in my work is never explanatory, it is intended to open a gap between the perceived images and a string of seemingly unrelated words. To try and forge a connection can add depth to the viewing experience, but also confusion and sometimes humor, all of which I welcome.

Recently I have begun to work with colors on paper and canvas as an additional tool for developing performances. Creating images to me is no end in itself, but rather an extension of documenting performative actions. Each image tells the story of the gesture and physical actions necessary for its creation. As one part of a group or a series, it also becomes part of a documentation of my thinking processes. For new performances I use some of my drawings and paintings as scores for performative processes.

While I often use topical research or biographical material to plan my performances, I do not claim they are „about“ anything. I try to keep them intense and multi-layered, but non-descriptive, to allow for each individual witness to determine what they might mean to them.

I consider each performance a collaboration. While I strive to carefully prepare my work, there is always room for development during the action itself. Whether I use participatory elements in a specific work or not, the living presence of the spectators always massively influences what happens. The actions I actually perform depend wholly on this situation of encountering one another in the free and safe space of the performance arena, outside the confines of social conventions: Anything can happen here.