Performance, Deformance, Reformance

This project was funded by the Visegrad Fund, and our collective collaborated closely with neighboring Visegrad collectives: ARS LATRANS (Poland), ArtPortal (Hungary), and Slam Poetry SK (Slovakia).

On February 24th, we concluded the project with a final film screening in Krakow, Poland.

After four years of dedicated effort, we were thrilled to witness the culmination of this project and to immortalize it in our annual film, OBJECT:PRAHA IV.

In 2020, just a week before the onset of the COVID-19 lockdowns across Europe, Tyko Say and Sandra Pasławska met over espresso in Exarcheia, Greece. Although they had only met in person a few times before, they planned the first international OBJECT:PARADISE curation to take place in Krakow later that year. The concept featured an unstructured script of action, reading, sound, and performance designed to challenge and question the boundaries of a traditional poetry reading.

The envisioned event included a barista causing a ruckus on stage, interrupting with bursts of espresso in concert with readings; strangers from the street entering the room shouting, "we will not be moved"; slender vegan hotdog vendors navigating the audience, tossing wieners past shoulders; cross-dressers in masks cross-dressing as themselves; readers reciting red (un)instructions in bed; triumphant rusty trombones scorching the ceiling from balcony enclaves; and a revolving door swinging robustly ajar for non-poets to become poets.

This happening would never occur in this universe—but perhaps somewhere else, a man with a mouthful of hot dogs is ironing his hair and reading instructions on how to be oneself in front of a stage with his back turned towards a screaming, almost stranger, audience. It would never happen.

COVID struck in 2020/21/22, and the non-existent memories of this absent happening laid the groundwork for what would later occur in August 2023: Performance, Deformance, Reformance.

Between 2020 and 2023, the O:P collective evolved, taking on new projects—an album, a magazine, a collection of films, and installations—all with and for our local community. We thank all the Jan and Janas of our microcosm art scene. It was a time to celebrate closeness. We took trains, rode rails, and further planned the Krakow happening with our new team and newfound energy. We thank COVID for teaching us the importance of closeness (despite the frown, the smile, behind the mask).

In 2022, we set the venue to be at a video production house with open air, a glass hallway, and green screens. How could we replicate our new multimedia, television reality now in person that the mask was down? Well, we couldn't and we wouldn't. And we realized that transporting twenty 100kg TVs was expensive—both by national and private post.

In 2023, the International Visegrad Fund approved the curation for funding but suggested we make it bigger—so we did. We contacted our good friends in Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland to collaborate and expand the curation beyond hot dogs and espresso.

We decided to personally transport the TVs by train, bringing the closeness even closer.

From January to June 2023, the O:P team worked closely with Slam Poetry Slovakia, ARS LATRANS Poland, and Art Portal Hungary to curate a one-time language happening featuring over fifty actions of sound, language, performance, installation, and film. It was a time of excellence and Excel sheets.

On Thursday, August 24th, 2023, the four collectives gathered for the first time at Punctum in Žižkov, where we laid out the three questions our project aimed to answer:

1. What is the function of performance in the sharing of poetry in the public space?
2. How do the poet, the poem, and the context relate to each other? Is there a hierarchy?
3. Does poetry exist? If so, what is it?

Over the next three days, the O:P collective, along with over 200 members of our Central European community, explored the nuances of these questions in OBJECT:PARADISE's most significant language happening yet.

Below, you can read about how the weekend transpired.

The Curation

Event 1: WHY? IS? POETRY?

Panel discussion, open mic · Punctum, Žižkov (CZ) · 24.08.2023

Our project started in Prague where OBJECT:PARADISE hosted representatives from SK Slam and ArtPortal for a panel discussion on the evolving format of performance and poetics in Central Europe.

We presented current challenges that writers and collectives are facing, as well as discussed possible ways forward in promoting a more inclusive, contextually-specific poetics.

We asked for (and prioritized) the public to voice their opinion in the conversation by limiting our panelists in the discussion. The conversation was catered around three questions:

1. What is the function of performance in the sharing of poetry in the public space?
2. How does the poet, the poem, and the context relate to each other? And is there a hierarchy?
3. Does poetry exist? If so, what is it?

Event 2: OBJECT:VLAK

Readings, workshops, performance, film screenings · Praha hlavní nádraží (CZ) → Kraków Główny (PL) · 25.08.2023

Our next stop was in transit from Prague’s central train station to Krakow’s. Because we believe in a poetics that’s contextual, dynamic, and interdisciplinary, we invited the Prague community to join us in the journey to our main event in Krakow.

The six hour journey featured a variety of planned (and unplanned) actions, workshops, readings, and film-screenings all within a 50-person train cart.

Event 3: Krakow Calling

Readings, sound, performance, installation · Pasaż XXIII, Kraków (PL) · 26.08.2023

The project's main event was a one-day interdisciplinary festival, featuring cast members of separate disciplines from OBJECT:PARADISE, ARS LATRANS, ArtPortal, and Slam SK.

The objective of the event was to engage a new audience with the procedural aspects of poetry and performance by curating a space and site-specific happening where new notions of poetry can be created and traditional binaries of performer-audience roles could be challenged.

By composing an international cast from separate disciplines, we presented poetry as a multi-media and interdisciplinary experience that was, hopefully, accessible to an audience beyond literary and academic circles.

The film: OBJECT:PRAHA IV

OBJECT:PRAHA IV: Performance, Deformance, Reformance (2024) is the film outcome of O:P’s first international language happening — three events across two countries, co-curated with partner collectives from Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia and unified by a single Manifesto.

Directed by Tyko Say
Runtime: 33:43
Format/aspect: Digital / 5:4

Shot in August 2023, the film assembles over forty performances, readings, actions, sounds, and installations from artists across Central Europe, tracing a weekend where venues in Prague and Krakow were turned into temporary laboratories for language. Rather than asking what poetry should be, OBJECT:PRAHA IV looks at what poetry can be when it leaks into public space, nightlife, and everyday movement.

Threaded through the film are three questions: What is the function of performance in sharing poetry in public? How do poet, poem, and context relate—and is there a hierarchy? And does “poetry” even exist?

Supported by the International Visegrad Fund, the film is a communal portrait of exploration—not of what poetry should be but of what it can be.

Event 4: The Screenings

Film tour, panel discussions, open mics · Prague, Berlin, Beja, Budapest, Košice, Krakow, Paris · from October 2023

The final phase of the project involved extending the dynamic energy of our events to communities beyond our immediate circle. To achieve this, we embarked on a film tour across the Visegrad region, showcasing OBJECT:PRAHA IV: Performance, Deformance, Reformance. The film encapsulates the essence of our August 2023 happenings, offering audiences an immersive experience into our explorations of poetry and performance.

Each screening was complemented by panel discussions and open-mic sessions, fostering an environment where attendees could engage deeply with the themes presented. These interactive segments provided a platform for participants to share their perspectives and interpretations, effectively turning the audience into active contributors. This collaborative approach enriched our understanding of the questions posed during the curation, as we listened to diverse voices and insights from various communities.

The tour not only broadened the reach of our work but also reinforced the communal aspect of our project, highlighting the universal relevance of our inquiry into the nature and function of poetry in public spaces.

Credits

The project is co-financed by the Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.