A Dog Republic
She talks peace! A Dog Republic 2013 Demonstration #3
19.01. - 23.02.2013
Performed by Jean-Baptiste Decavèle, Nico Dockx,
Esther Donatz, Yona Friedman, Helena Sidiropoulos,
Krist Torfs & some skydog
Opening: |
Friday, January 18, 2013, 6-9 pm with live sound performance |
Exhibition Dates: | January 19 – February 23, 2013 |
Opening Hours: |
Wed/Fri 1-6 pm, Thu 1-7 pm, Sat 12-4 pm |
In 2006 and 2007, Nico Dockx and Helena Sidiropoulos visited Yona Friedman and his dog Balkis in their apartment in Paris to share some conversations related to an encounter they had had in Bangkok with some skydogs – stray dogs that live high up in unfinished and abandoned skytrain and skyscraper architectures. Upon request of these dogs they started to collect textual and visual materials during their many journeys in Thailand. In 2008, Yona Friedman replied to their stories with a beautiful faxed letter on the notion of gravity ending with a big French barking ough-ough-ough. In 2009, they were asked by the late Balkis to work on a series of drawings letting some dogs meet, fight, wander, talk, interact with one another and adapt to their surroundings. In 2011, Jean-Baptiste Decavèle, a close friend of Yona Friedman's and Balkis's, teamed up with them after a long journey to Balkis Island – a fictional island that emerged from the friendship between Yona Friedman and Jean-Baptiste Decavèle – to help in the realization of this collaborative work. The drawings and all other related imagery slowly got on the move becoming animated pictures. In early 2012, most of these dog friends met again in Paris to start editing the different materials related to the many barking conversations they had had since 2006, resulting in the Dog Republic’s first constitution on film. Shortly after, Krist Torfs joined this visionary project bringing drum rhythms to the textual and visual sequences of the other dogs. The animated sounds, texts and images refer to resonances that are not compulsorily bound to meaning as words are bound to it, but still act as a code for the potential communication of different politics and poetics.For the exhibition at Esther Donatz Gallery, A Dog Republic has produced a short silent video work in close and direct dialogue with Esther Donatz herself questioning ideas such as interaction, conversation, participation, and collaboration. A Dog Republic was initiated in 2011 by artists Jean-Baptiste Decavèle, Nico Dockx, and Helena Sidiropoulos, architect Yona Friedman and musician Krist Torfs. After some barking correspondences between Paris and Antwerp about the constitution of their republic they teamed up with some other dogs on September 20, 2012 for the first demonstration Let's talk peace! (co-curated by Clara Meister) at Ludlow38 in New York. On December 2, 2012 they had their second demonstration Let's have a bone! (co-curated by Lorenzo Benedetti) at De Vleeshal in Middelburg as part of Yona Friedman's and Jean-Baptiste Decavèle's collaborative project Architecture without building. After their third demonstration She talks peace! at Esther Donatz Gallery in Munich this republic of dogs follows the invitation by museum director Phillip Van den Bossche for a fourth demonstration at MuZee in Oostende creating a dialogue with James Ensor's painting Un bon coin chez moi from the museum collection. Together with graphic designer Thomas Mayfried these dogs continue to work on an artist's book in progress of which part one was released in New York. Jean-Baptiste Decavèle, Nico Dockx and Krist Torfs will be present during the opening reception at Esther Donatz Gallery. It will be accompanied by a live sound performance. Text: A Dog Republic
Esther Donatz
Nadine Seligmann Phone: +49 89 70 07 62 00
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