Red Check
Red Check
In relation to the beatnik generation, its nomadic lifestyle, and non-conformist public reading of poems, Jana Orlová reflected on her recent experience of living in Canada. For her performance, she chose the ugliest part of the gallery – a parking lot with a large concrete block. She performed with a hat from the Quebec Museum of Fine Arts with the motto „L’art dans ma vie“ and a backpack, which was her only luggage for her two-month stay overseas. She also used red wine, a face mask, and white sage in her performance as a tribute to Canada’s indigenous people. She read a selection of her poems relating to the artist’s nomadic lifestyle.
https://inter-lelieu.org/editions/riap-2022/
RIAP (Rencontre internationale d’art performance), Agora+ gallery, Alma, Canada, 25.8. 2022, photo Le Rhizome.
Create the Artist
24. 3. 2024
by jana
Create the Artist
The artist invited the curatorial and organizational team of the gallery and art space Le Lobe to place on her body a child’s tattoo with the theme of the most famous works of art in the history of art. The condition was that the tattoos had to be applied with saliva and their own tongue. For the less adventurous, stick-on rhinestones were prepared. The performance was hampered by the fact that it was extremely hot. Nevertheless, a wide range of spectators gradually got involved. This solo performance was realized within the collective performance of all Czech participants of the RIAP festival (Rencontre internationale d’art performance), i.e. Tomáš Ruller, Darina Alster, David Helán, and Jana Orlová.
https://inter-lelieu.org/editions/riap-2022/
RIAP (Rencontre internationale d’art performance), Le Lieu Gallery, Québec, Canada, 21.8. 2022, photo Sandra Sunshine.
Pais Paizon
24. 3. 2024
by jana
Pais Paizon
For Jana Orlová, slime is a symbol of the unconscious, which, like natural or natural animal slime, is often a dumping ground for many unpleasant, suspicious, or toxic thoughts, patterns, and memories. These are usually displaced and therefore control us more than we are willing to admit. Working with rainbow slime, which is (surely not coincidentally) a favorite childhood toy, is a symbolic manipulation of the unconscious. The rainbow slime lightens the whole subject while reminding us that as uplifting as personal transformation can be, we must first deal with our own slime (unresolved psychic issues). And slime is still slime – even when we paint it a rainbow. During the performance, the naked artist, covered in a layer of slime, wrapped herself in a giant roll of bubble wrap to symbolize peeking during the transformation phase. The contact between the slime and the foil gave rise to an installation that eventually remained in place.
https://inter-lelieu.org/editions/riap-2022/
RIAP (Rencontre internationale d’art performance), Le Lieu gallery, Québec, Canada, 20.8. 2022, photo Sandra Sunshine.
Hybris II
Slime, like mud, is a substance close to alchemical prima materia. Slime, which in the first place is something disgusting, disgusting, or unclean – something we are afraid to touch. Slime belongs to the group of liquid substances that evoke hard-to-define fears of contagion, like, say, pus or mucus – which, incidentally, is the closest thing to slime. However, the slime used by Jana Orlova is, in contrast to the above, rainbow-colored; it is a child’s toy. It combines both disgust and attraction, which the artist accentuates by letting the slime run down her body, creating random temporary images and compositions. During the performance in Chicoutimi, the artist developed the theme of beauty contests. She stood in a white bodysuit and high-heeled pumps on a table that was more an allusion to a plinth than a stage. She thus became an object to be judged, to be evaluated. Slime, though brightly colored, remains slime, and the parade of the female body thus easily becomes a strange entertainment in which onlookers are involved. After them, the artist began to throw the slime she had collected from her body, inviting them to continue the game.
https://inter-lelieu.org/editions/riap-2022/
RIAP (Rencontre internationale d’art performance), Le Lobe gallery, Chicoutimi, Canada, 18.8. 2022, photo Samuel Snow.
Slime Poetry
24. 3. 2024
by jana
Slime poetry
Author poetry reading + live action
During the performance, I combined body and material work (liquid rainbow slime – a child’s toy) with real-time projection focused on detail. In addition, I recited my surrealistic text, which was underscored by reproduced music. The individual stanzas were composed so that they could be read in any order, thus creating ever-new meanings. I decided to experiment with several media at the same time as part of a long-term project in which she wanted to connect the world of visual art and the world of literature.
Gallery of Fine Art in Ostrava – Art House, 25.11. 2021, music Nela Bártová, photo Martin Straka.