2nd June 4 - 6am

Piazza San Marco

Verbandelt and Verschnürt

Two founding members of Black Market (Tomas Ruller and Zygmunt Piotrowski) invite the artists of INFR’ACTIONS to take part in an “Open Situation” on the Piazza San Marco, the most famous square of Venice. At this early hour the square is vacant except for two carabinieris, who appear content to observe the goings on.

About twenty artists arrive and begin to populate an area which is gently framed by the two Black Market artists, both dressed in black. Dorothea Seror and Claudia Kappenberg work separately today. Claudia Kappenberg lays out a multitude of shoelaces and ties them to her fingers thereby extending her hands. Moving across the square and to the water edge she drags the laces through the water and draws temporary lines on the paving stones. Dorothea Seror ties four large balls of string around four central lamp posts and unravels the balls to their full 100meter length and to the far corners of the square. She ties the ends to her body and winds the strings up continuously turning and rolling. Her movements cross the pathways of the other performers but she cannot change her course in her gradual entrapment. When the strings reach maximum tension she lays down and remains there until sunrise. Eventually she cuts herself loose with a knife.

Other interventions take place simultaneously, such as the ‘planting’ of a small set of grasses in the crevices of the paving stones (Brian Connolly) and the walking backwards and balancing of chinking glasses (Dominic Thorpe)… According to the tradition of Black Market events artists perform at the same time and at the same place, and brief encounters and interactions are possible.

Photos: Fausto Grossi, Jason Lim