Proposal

I will read without preparation a Polish text selected by Grzegorsz Klaman curator of the venue. I will appropriate a text as fully as I can: neither writing or choosing it nor reading it in a familiar language. As an artistic strategy appropriation is supposed to divert attention away from the artist. It permits critical detachment and a retreat from the responsibilities of an author. A recent complaint leveled by a critic against a fellow artist was “It looks as if you’ve made it”. Paradoxically, in this performance my lack of intervention may have the opposite effect. Instead of being concealed by the gesture of appropriation I am likely to be exposed to the point of ridicule.

A short, informal discussion will follow the performance. It will be an opportunity to raise questions relating to concealment and exposure of identity through the way we speak in a foreign language. For example, what does speaking a language well mean? Does speaking well mean that we learn the language and customs of the host nation so perfectly that we are impossible to recognise? Or does speaking well suggest that we communicate something of our otherness and are instantly recognisable by appearance, accent, clothes and comments? Does a language gain anything by being spoken in different ways? If, for example, it was felt that I read the passage badly, then the issues of what was wrong will need to be addressed.

Nick Ferguson 2002