In chaos theory, the butterfly effect describes the impossibility to identify causalities in larger contexts. 

Construction workers outside my window are listening to the radio. A song comes on that reminds me of a party 25 years ago. It was at this party I ensnared a beautiful young man and decided to become an artist in order to express my esteem for him and earn his respect. But what made those construction workers tune into that station? And what made the host of the radio show play that song? Or even the musician to write specifically this song, with these words? And why do I remember this particular occasion instead of the other hundreds of times I have heard this song?

We have learned to call these occurrences random, to shorten them, because otherwise it just takes too long.

Others call it the butterfly effect. 

Nowadays, well-behaved at home in the lockdown entangled in our algorithm-fed newsfeeds, it’s rare that something happens unintentionally. Days are safe and planned. Chance encounters are reduced to a minimum because they are dangerous. But it’s these unintended moments that inspire. Especially as artists, we need these influences, these impulses to keep us fresh about the world we live in. We have to create encounters. 

“Write an action statement that someone can use to create a work of art.”

That is the simple challenge upon which this exhibition is based, but it is easier said than done. The dimensions of this problem unfold as you get closer. How do I develop a score that relates to my own artistic way of working? Thus arises the problem of verbalizing a condition, a feeling, or an observation, each in my specific artistic way? Then its transformation into a possible action in the infinitive. 

Once the instructions were ready, it was time for interpretation. This leads to the same questions backward: which words of the text trigger a sensibility, an atmosphere, or a feeling? How do I keep my artistic integrity when answering a call based on another artist’s practise?

A score has everything in it except the sound.

During the online residency of the PILOTENKUECHE International Art Program, we faced these challenges. 5 artists worked together for 6 weeks, sharing ideas and trying out new techniques. The result is a wonderful exhibition that shows the international collaboration between artists, across continental borders. 

In Lockdown.

written by Julianne Csapo

Score

predetermined series of physical, verbal, or musical actions conceived by an artist and meant to be reinterpreted.

Fri 26 March
7PM-22PM (UTC+1)
Gallery KUB

ZOOM:
https://zoom.us/j/93281195321…

PKORP #1 artists

Therese Lippold (DE)
Catherin Schöberl (DE)
Emily Wisniewski (US)
A. Morgan McKendry (US)
Dalia Kiaupaite  (LT)