Interview with Anne-Liis Kogan
Oslo, 10.10.2016
Q: Why / when / how did you start to work with performance, what is your background, how did you arrive at doing performance?
My background is from video and social/relational practice. However I think I have always been interested in performativity within art as a relational concept. I am interested in asking how do we play social roles, in front of the camera or in the public sphere? Therefore moving away from the camera into the “real” moment seemed like an interesting and natural step in my practice. To create situations here and now, in a relation to an audience was attractive after working with video for a long time.
Q: What is your process like when you make a performance, from idea to actual work?
My process starts with a specific context or site that can often affect the outcome; it is also something I like to do, to work site specifically. The idea often comes suddenly from something personal that also feels relevant in the current political situation or in society in general. Somehow the right idea or the core of the performance comes to me and then I know that there is something I want to research. The whole physical/technical process can be more a process of testing and trying out, perhaps not knowing exactly how it will turn out and then, suddenly I find myself actually doing it on the day of the performance.
Q: Can you tell about your latest project?
In my latest project I’m___voices, I am working with a diary excerpt from Estonia written during the Second World War which was written by my great grandmother. During the performance I am translating this text live into different languages. The translations are recorded through a loop machine. The feed of sound created through the different voices/languages dissolves and alters the written story, whilst referencing the state of the world today. The performance attempts to create a feed of language, translation and memory through spoken word and with that give the listener a narrative that will be constructed depending on how much they manage to understand and put together.
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Q: Why / when / how did you start to work with performance, what is your background, how did you arrive at doing performance?
My background is from video and social/relational practice. However I think I have always been interested in performativity within art as a relational concept. I am interested in asking how do we play social roles, in front of the camera or in the public sphere? Therefore moving away from the camera into the “real” moment seemed like an interesting and natural step in my practice. To create situations here and now, in a relation to an audience was attractive after working with video for a long time.
Q: What is your process like when you make a performance, from idea to actual work?
My process starts with a specific context or site that can often affect the outcome; it is also something I like to do, to work site specifically. The idea often comes suddenly from something personal that also feels relevant in the current political situation or in society in general. Somehow the right idea or the core of the performance comes to me and then I know that there is something I want to research. The whole physical/technical process can be more a process of testing and trying out, perhaps not knowing exactly how it will turn out and then, suddenly I find myself actually doing it on the day of the performance.
Q: Can you tell about your latest project?
In my latest project I’m___voices, I am working with a diary excerpt from Estonia written during the Second World War which was written by my great grandmother. During the performance I am translating this text live into different languages. The translations are recorded through a loop machine. The feed of sound created through the different voices/languages dissolves and alters the written story, whilst referencing the state of the world today. The performance attempts to create a feed of language, translation and memory through spoken word and with that give the listener a narrative that will be constructed depending on how much they manage to understand and put together.
<< Back