It ain’t over until it’s over #2
Řehlovice, Czechia 2020
Kulturni Centrum, Art Hall
Invited by Marie-Luise Lange
Duration: 26 minutes
Photographs by Monika Deimling


Context:
In 2020, the performance art course took place for the 12th time in Řehlovice, Czechia, in collaboration with the Institute for Art Education at TU Dresden and PAS | Performance Art Studies. The remote Kulturní Centrum, with its historic barn complex, offers an ideal setting for performance-based experiments, fostering creativity in a space rich with history and atmosphere.
Since its inception in 2008, the course has been led by Marie-Luise Lange and BBB Johannes Deimling, becoming a well-regarded and influential programme in the field of performance art and art education. The 2020 edition marked a significant transition, as it was the last course for Marie-Luise Lange before her retirement as a professor at TU Dresden. Her profound dedication to performance-based processes and her commitment to making them accessible to young people in schools has been – and continues to be – an inspiration. Her work has deeply enriched the intersection of art and education, leaving a lasting impact on students and colleagues alike.
As part of the curriculum, the course instructors present a performance to the students – an essential element of the learning process. Experiencing a live performance enhances students’ understanding of performance practice and sharpens their observational skills.
The performance “It ain’t over until it’s over” took place in the former pig barn, which has since been transformed into an art hall, offering a raw yet intimate setting for artistic exploration.



Video documentation of the performance
16:21 minutes
Camera: Lisa-Marie Porst
2020
Description of actions:
A collage of performance images and sounds is created by executing the following actions with selected material.
– Cracking little branches while sitting on a chair. [This is the situation when the audience is entering the art hall.]
– Walking through the tightly arranged row of chairs. [The sound of chairs shifting on the floor echoes through the hall.]
– Sitting on a chair and binding a violin on the face; slowly breaking the violin step by step into pieces until the face is visible again. [Loud sound of the cracking music instrument echoes through the hall.]
– Walking through the row of chairs. [The sound of chairs shifting on the floor echoes through the hall.]
– Taking a ping-pong racket and a ping-pong ball and let the ball bounce for a longer while. [The sound of the bouncing ball echoes through the room.]
– Walking through the row of chairs. [The sound of chairs shifting on the floor echoes through the hall.]
– Sitting down on another chair; Babbling loudly and moving with the fingers dipped in green paint from the mouth over the throat to the lungs back and forth. [The sound of babbling echoes through the hall.]
– Walking through the row of chairs. [The squeaking sound of chairs shifting on the floor echoes through the hall.]
– Standing on two chairs and quickly turning a rope. [The sound of the rope echoes through the hall.]
– Walking through the row of chairs. [The sound of the wooden chairs shifting on the floor echoes through the hall.]
– Inflating white paper bags and bursting them. [Loud bangs fill the space.]
– Walking through the row of chairs. [The creaking sound of chairs shifting on the floor echoes through the hall.]
– Binding a big orange beak on the face and walking quickly on the chairs.
– Taking a pole on which ends are colored feathers attached and waggling the stick while walking on the chairs.
– Taking silver metal cans attached to ropes and waggle them around. [The clanking sound of the cans echoes through the hall.]
– Creating a flower-like object with a white paper bag and a little branch. [The flower is handed to Marie-Luise Lange who is sitting in the audience.]
– Climbing on a bike, lighting a yellow smoke torch and slowly biking out of the art hall while waggling the metal cans.


Screening of the video documentation at Castel dell’Ovo as part of the artperformingfestival, Naples, Italy 2021
Curated by Gianni Nappa