Katalin Ladik, Poemask, 1980, photo: Ifjú Gábor
Katalin Ladik
Poemim

Katalin Ladik (*1942, Serbia) performs her artistic work on the radio, in the theatre and, finally, in the world of visual art. A writer of poems, she transfers poetic language to other fields of expression, such as visual poetry, performance, Mail art and sound art. Her work is bound to feminist matters in Eastern Europe and reflects the personal, social and existential difficulties that female artists must face. Recurrent dual structures and the use of sexually ambiguous figures (androgynes and angels) as well as gender-neutralising elements inhabit her work, which occasionally acquires Shamanic overtones and integrates therapeutic mechanisms of liberation.

This video comprises several short actions carried out by the artist in front of the camera. The deformation of her face through a glass in the first sequence leads to a series of alterations and modifications of sounds which the artist produces in the following actions. The impossibility of expressing herself through language or in an unexpected way not appropriate to the body emitting the sounds and noises constitutes the fundamental duality of this work.

Courtesy Katalin Ladik

Document media
Video, b&w, sound, 10:00 min

Issue date
1980

Tags
de/construct identities, language, sound, voice