THIS IS NOT A PERFORMANCE ART PIECE

Performance: Venice Biennale Opening, 6th of May 2015

1300 sheets of papers hand written, signed and numbered

LIUBA went to visit the 56 Venice Biennale at the preview Opening on May 6, 2015. This time, unusually, she was not doing a performance art piece, and she declared this statement, giving visitors a piece of paper on which she stated in fact that she was not doing a performance: “This is not a performance art piece” , numbered and signed by the artist.

A written statement that questions its own content causes a disorientation in the receivers, leading them to question the subtle line between what life presents and what art represents.  At the same time the non-performance invites us to reflect on the nature of language and on the concepts of truth and lies, shuffling the cards.

Umberto Eco defines the sign as “the thing with which you can lie”. With the denial of the action stated in the text, what takes place is the exact opposite of what is declared by the statement, accompanying the viewer into a territory that pits two concepts in a paradoxical way.

The obvious reference to the trahison des images revealed already by René Magritte materializes in this work with the betrayal of the idea of performance art, wanting it to interact directly with what belongs to the réalité.

Therefore, relating with the works of Duchamp and ‘One and three chairs‘ by Kosuth, the semantic incongruity of non-performance ironically approaches a contingent reality, deconstructing and inscribing them into a complex system made up from scientific analysis of the gesture in its context.

QUESTA NON E’ UNA PERFORMANCE

Performance: Arte Fiera Opening, Bologna, January 2015

500 sheets of papers hand written and signed.

LIUBA gave 500 sheets of paper to people she was casually meeting visiting the opening of Bologna Art Fair.

The meta-performance is based on the paradoxical juxtaposition of the image and the writing that disproves it, putting an end to the regime of representation based on similarity, and inaugurating that of similarity without original reference.

Relating to the works of Duchamp, Magritte and Kosuth’s ‘One and three chairs’, the semantic incongruity of non-performance ironically approaches contingent reality, deconstructing it and inscribing it in a complex system consisting of the scientific analysis of the gesture in its context .