SPOTSHOTBEUYS | Silke Grabinger

April 20, 2024 | 6:30PM - 8:30PM | Campiello del Leon Bianco, Venezia

On April 20th, to coincide with the opening of the Venice Biennale Arte 2024, The Venice Venice Hotel and the Bonotto Foundation are set to host an extraordinary performance SPOTSHOTBEUYS by Austrian artist Silke Grabinger.

The Bonotto Foundation, internationally renowned for its commitment to the promotion and conservation of contemporary art, recently celebrated its tenth anniversary at The Venice Venice Hotel. To commemorate this milestone, the hotel and the foundation inaugurated two extraordinary rooms – R72 “The Embassy #1” and R71 “The Embassy #2” – a testament to their deep and ongoing relationship and shared commitment to fostering connections with visionary artists weaving the rich past of the avant-garde with tantalizing glimpses of the future.

SPOTSHOTBEUYS brings the performance artist Silke Grabinger together with “SPOT”, the robot, which could be perceived as dog representation, developed by Boston Dynamics, and explore the current relationship between humans and technology against the backdrop of Joseph Beuys’ performance I like America and America likes me, one of the main artwork showcased at R72 “The Embassy #1”.

Although the dog is no longer symbolically the original nature like coyote, but rather the result of the currently most advanced culture, the relationship to it is similar.
As Patrizio Peterlini, Director of the Bonotto Foundation, underlines, the fundamental reversal of roles introduced by Grabringer significantly modifies the reading of the entire action.
If in 1974 Beuys referred to the Coyote as a totemic animal in danger of extinction with which to re-establish a possible coexistence within the framework of a spiritual reconnection with nature, now it is the robot that relates to human, thus opening the way to a reflection on the impact of technological civilization on the human existence and the social and political changes that it entails.

The installative performance follows a scheme: “3 to the power of 3”. In its length of approx. 150 minutes, it covers 3 days, each of which shows 3 repetitive scenes from 3 starting points. With this 3-day time cycle – visualized by the timing of a sodium vapor lamp – the performance is based on 3 days and 3 nights in which Beuys locked himself up in the René Block Gallery in New York.

In Grabinger’s translation, the immediate symbiosis of human and robot dog on the first day is followed by the discovery of meditation on the second day and human empowerment on the third.

In contrast to Beuys, the role of the meditation of dog and human in their autonomy now comes to the fore and with it the question of who is in control.
The scenes of Obstacle Avoidance, Hip Dance and Consideration are repeated over the course of the days. These sequences show a repetitive examination of the relationship between the moving performers, which at the same time gives an idea to the desire and also the need that is likewise reflected in every human relationship.

Performance title: SHOTSPOYBEUYS
Artist: Silke Grabinger
Location: Campiello del Lion Bianco presso Ca da Mosto
Date: 20 aprile 2024
Hours: 18:30- 20:30
Production: Fondazione Bonotto, Venice Venice Hotel

Credits:
Concept, choreography & performance: Silke Grabinger
Rehearsal director: Gergely Dudás-Simó
Dramaturgy: Ludwig Felhofer, Silke Grabinger
Spot Carrier: Giovanni Bonotto, Alessandro Gallo
External eye: Michael Stolhofer, Michael Eickhoff
Costume Design: Bianca Fladerer
Lighting design: Max Windisch-Spoerk
Production Management: Gergely Dudás-Simó, Bettina Bakos
Video: Karol Kensy
Photo: Meinrad Hofer

In cooperation with Bonotto Foundation, Venice Venice Hotel, Francisco Carolinum, Zirkus des Wissens and Boston Dynamics Spot of the Institute of Robotics at the Johannes Kepler University Linz and SILK KLISCOPE
This performance was developed during the artist-in-residency program at Bildraum Studio/Bildrecht
A production of SILK Cie & SILK Flugge KLISCOPE funded by the City of Linz, Kulturland Oberösterreich and BMKOES