Zhanna Gladko: Vicious Circle

Zhanna Gladko’s work focuses on investigating mechanisms of culture and art history. The artist places the role of the contemporary museum and archives, problems and crises of identity, gender issues, the theme of history and memory at the centre of her artistic interest.

Her performance Vicious Circle is based on the installation Destroyed Piano, which the artist created in 2015. The work is part of the larger cycle »Inciting Force«, which is dedicated to the artist’s autobiographical story and her complex relationship with her father. He had raised his daughter according to strict rules and under total control, which at some point led to conflicts. In retrospect, this personal experience reveals to Zhanna Gladko the patriarchal thinking that had already shaped Belarusian society in the Soviet Union and still stands in the way of the country’s renewal today.

In 2015, in the absence of her daughter, her father dismantled the piano that Zhanna Gladko had learned to play as a child and which was also a symbol of inner liberation for her. He left only some parts of the instrument–strings, pedals….–were left. The artist managed to film the last phase of her father’s destruction of the instrument.

For the exhibition at the Kunstzentrum Karlskaserne, Zhanna Gladko creates a space that refers to the idea of a sacred zone, a place that can be attractive at certain times and whose attraction is difficult to overcome. It is the image of a home, a comfort zone, a community, a magic circle inherent in mystical practices*. Something that offers protection from external forces, but at some point turns into an insurmountable wall or cage that restricts the freedom of personal expression. A trap from which one can hardly escape unless one appropriates and asserts one’s right to autonomy and independence.

 

* The image of a circle, a ring, refers to a sacred space that was used in magical practices. Such a circle was drawn with charcoal or chalk to protect oneself from the outside world. Later, brass wire was used to form the circle. It was considered particularly powerful when people stood in a circle and held hands, creating a circle that united people into a community, a force.