lection-performance by Volodymyr Topiy
12 05 2017
Dzyga gallery, Lviv, lection-performance by Volodymyr Topiy
It was raining outside. More and more people came around the gallery entrance. In the middle of the
room stood a table, nearly was a chair, in front of them laid a big metal wash basin, and near of the
wall were laying a lot of different objects, white long textile and some smaller objects…
The audience was staying in expectation of something. Topiy was walking between them, cryptically
smiling, sometimes was saying, that he doesn`t know how should it be, because there were great
lectures of Roman Lavrentii and Larisa Venediktova before, and he should begin from words, but the
words are not always available.
I speak with my father the same language, but we speak cross-purposes. He tells me about Kryvbas
and Vorskla… I am not great on football… And after that, I meet artists from Germany, Izrael, and
without speaking any German and Hebrew languages we communicated really good in some hours!
During this practical lecture, Volodymyr used gestures, materials, and sounds, which happened in performance works of artists, such as balancing of wash basin with water, which by interaction with author creates a live sculpture. Runoff water through the gallery floor, trace after it combines with rain outside, “clang a bell”, which changed into this sound the audience and cafe guests for next 5 minutes. Wet and dry cloth, being inside and outside, the perception of this material: a human being with the white sign in their hand, human being rolled into white clothes… “Words and gestures, which we are looking for an expression in performance, are our prostheses” – said Volodymyr Topiy.
This lecture-performance get the beginning of the practical part of Berezil Laboratory of
Interdisciplinary Practices, which at the first time took place in Lviv. It is an effort to understand
performance art otherwise than a workshop, theoretical lecture or review. It is a possibility for the
performer, to listen to them and to communicate with them, better to understand this person, artist,
who also has a lot of questions and impressions before, during and after work.
