Today’s culture is youth obsessed. But no matter how much we exercise, no matter how many anti-aging creams or plastic surgeries we have, there is no escaping time. Reinhold Ponesch and Tamaki Kawaguchi’s collaborative performance, IT CONCERNS YOU, addresses the unavoidable and taboo issue of dependency due to the aging process.

Ponesch portrays an elderly person who has become physically debilitated. Kawaguchi teeters between being mentally incapacitated and being the puppeteer that is time itself. Wearing a protective raincoat, Ponesch finds himself trapped in a box. As he tries to escape, Kawaguchi paints his raincoat and the latex walls of the box as he presses against them. Throughout the performance, elements of physical and psychological deterioration are revealed. Onlookers are invited to engage by responding to unexpected questions. The piece includes painting, video, dance, installation and movement inspired by Noh Theatre. 

• Noh (能 Nō), derived from the Sino-Japanese word for “skill” or “talent”, is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century.

This work has an autobiographical nature as Ponesch lost his father to Alzheimer’s last year. Considered a turning point in his career, Ponesch was moved to rethink death as a new beginning. The experience created a new desire for reconnection with his father and with his own inner being. IT CONCERNS YOU  is a reflection on this theme. On a personal level, the performance is a way for Ponesch to bond with his father. On a broader scale, he hopes that sharing it with other people will touch them in some way. Although the work stems from a particular situation, it embraces a common theme that we will all have to deal with at some point. 

The piece will be performed at the vernissage of Rutschbahn, the second in a series of four shows featuring the artists of the 37th round at Pilotenkueche Art Program. It was on a visit to Krudebude, where the show will take place, that Ponesch had the idea of making a collaborative performance with fellow artist Kawaguchi. At a first glance,  their work appears to be quite different. A closer look reveals a recurrent common thread: human interaction.

With a history in painting and installation, Reinhold Ponesch has chosen to explore “borders” by using different media whilst at Pilotenkueche. Although academically trained, Ponesch believes the real craft comes from trial and error. In his creative process, he describes two of his production methods: the first one has to do with an idea that is thought out in advance and then implemented directly onto the canvas. The second one is more related to fruition: to unconsciously let strokes and colours lead him to the final oeuvre. The artist also believes that objects can create extensions to his paintings. In his words, installations open a new spectrum of creativity, which sometimes can feel limited by only using paint.

Tamaki Kawaguchi is a painter and performer. Isolation and alienation are the keywords for her work. Wearing white overalls and masks to hide her identity in her performances, Kawaguchi puts herself inside a cubicle, which she often describes as her canvas. Kawaguchi questions the disappearance of the artist behind the work. By revealing the making of it, the production process becomes the final artwork itself. The actions take place in different contexts: parks, art galleries, among crowds or into natural landscapes. In presenting herself as a human being in these environments, Kawaguchi acknowledges her fate to work alone, even when performing communicative art.

In addition to the performance piece, It Concerns You, both Ponesch and Kawaguchi will join other International artists in showing individual works during Rutschbahn. 

written by curator Viviane Tabach

Rutschbahn at Krudebude

Vernissage Fri 16 Nov 2018 7PM
Open Sat 17 Nov – Wed 21 Nov 5PM – 8PM
Finissage Thur 22 Nov 2018 7PM

International Artists

Ai Ikeda (Montreal, Canada)
Barry Amey (Cornwall, UK)
Buket Savci  (NYC, USA)
David Benarroch (Tel Aviv, Israel)
Jan Yongdeok Lim (Utrecht, Netherlands)
Mihyun Maria Kim (Edmonton, Canada)
Nicholas Adamson (Winnipeg, Canada)
Reinhold Ponesch (Vienna, Austria)
Tamaki Kawaguchi (Osaka, Japan)

Local Artist
Julia Eichler (Halle, Germany)

Curator
Viviane Tabach (São Paulo, Brazil)