Cuenca, Lilibeth (DK)
Carlsberg Tap E
Lilibeth Cuenca
Born 1970 in Manila, the Philippines
Lives in Copenhagen
Under the title How to Break the Great Chinese Wall, Lilibeth Cuenca presents an array of re-enactments of historical performances, mainly dating from the 1960s and 70s. The title refers to The Lovers, The Great Wall Walk (1988), a performance by the artist duo Ulay and Marina Abramović to mark the termination their 12-year long love and working partnership. For 90 days the artists walked from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China before meeting in the middle where they took their final leave of each other.
By invoking this well-known farewell performance, Cuenca signals a watershed
moment in her own work - a taking stock and a moving on - vis-ŕ-vis performance art as a genre and as a strand of the 1970s politico-feminist project. Together with a partner, Cuenca stages a series of performances that depict a succession of physical collisions between a man and a woman. Following Ulay and Abramović, the focus here is the interrogation of the boundaries of various kinds of human relationships. Cuenca's interrogations starts off, however, with a series that focuses on 60s female performance artists and their radical, often violent, reaction against painting. Niki de Saint Phalle shot a canvas full of holes with a shotgun. Yayoi Kusama obliterated a painting with a swarm of polka dots and Yoko Ono had the audience trample upon a canvas before she set fire to it.
In re-enacting historical performances, Cuenca achieves two things. She revives
performance art's original critique of the idea of the artwork as a concrete entity. But further, with re-enactments, historical performances come to approach the status of musical scores - as objects that can be archived and repeated. As is of course required, if they are to be discussed.
How to Break the Great Chinese Wall breaks down into segments. Some re-enactments can be experienced live before subsequently appearing as documentation in installations; others will only be available as photographic and video records. Lilibeth Cuenca's re-enactments may be seen as an exploration into performance art as a genre - how it may be preserved, translated and so enabled to live on in art history and in our minds.
-NH
Lives in Copenhagen
Under the title How to Break the Great Chinese Wall, Lilibeth Cuenca presents an array of re-enactments of historical performances, mainly dating from the 1960s and 70s. The title refers to The Lovers, The Great Wall Walk (1988), a performance by the artist duo Ulay and Marina Abramović to mark the termination their 12-year long love and working partnership. For 90 days the artists walked from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China before meeting in the middle where they took their final leave of each other.
By invoking this well-known farewell performance, Cuenca signals a watershed
moment in her own work - a taking stock and a moving on - vis-ŕ-vis performance art as a genre and as a strand of the 1970s politico-feminist project. Together with a partner, Cuenca stages a series of performances that depict a succession of physical collisions between a man and a woman. Following Ulay and Abramović, the focus here is the interrogation of the boundaries of various kinds of human relationships. Cuenca's interrogations starts off, however, with a series that focuses on 60s female performance artists and their radical, often violent, reaction against painting. Niki de Saint Phalle shot a canvas full of holes with a shotgun. Yayoi Kusama obliterated a painting with a swarm of polka dots and Yoko Ono had the audience trample upon a canvas before she set fire to it.
In re-enacting historical performances, Cuenca achieves two things. She revives
performance art's original critique of the idea of the artwork as a concrete entity. But further, with re-enactments, historical performances come to approach the status of musical scores - as objects that can be archived and repeated. As is of course required, if they are to be discussed.
How to Break the Great Chinese Wall breaks down into segments. Some re-enactments can be experienced live before subsequently appearing as documentation in installations; others will only be available as photographic and video records. Lilibeth Cuenca's re-enactments may be seen as an exploration into performance art as a genre - how it may be preserved, translated and so enabled to live on in art history and in our minds.
-NH