Andrei Monastyrski

1996

Installation, 63 x (42 x 29,5 cm).
Materials: paper, 8 mm film

Collection: Collection M HKA (Inv. no. BK7513_M353).

The Circle of CA presents a synthetic overview of Monastyrski’s influential career in performance art. On two video monitors installed back to back in the middle of the exhibition space, the visitor can view the remaining documentary video footage from the performances. Central in this presentation, however, stands the absence of their representation, a spatial void. On the surrounding walls, a linear sequence of A3-size paper sheets bearing a series of numbers corresponds to the chronological development of Monastyrski’s performance art trajectory, while also highlighting the artist’s interest in numerical systems and the absolute poetry of mathematics. The numbers refer to the time that passed between any two performances. Thus this in-between time is represented, expressed in months. The first number and the last number being exactly identical allows time’s straightforward arrow to suddenly become a circle, closing in upon itself - Monastyrski's work seems almost custom-made for M HKA's unique circular space.