Petr Karpov, Petr Karpov: Spectator Notes (2024)

As an object, a functioning architecture, and a modern theater space, Arena longs for contact

with the human body. The contact lends it a necessary momentum. I viewed synthesize.r as a

performance that arises from this bodily need and reveals it through overlapping, fragmented

perspectives; acknowledging it in both structure and spectator.

Arena is, to me, foremost a canvas – a stage one covers with [actor/spectator] – and in my

own reproduction of the structure I focused my research on the traces audiences left on the

body of the work. The scuffs and chips, footprints and so on, that added to the structure’s

communal memory. I was delighted, then, to see in synthesize.r so clearly the imprints left on

the body by the structure. The projection of Dia Beacon’s Arena drew lines on Karolina’s

shoulders and back that ran parallel to the dull red scratches she received tumbling from the

structure’s highest step. These lines were mirrored by Wolfgang and preserved by Sofia: in

synthesize.r the body became an arena, an archive, a remix.

I value the relationship between Arena and audience because neither side ever holds a

dominant position. While Arena clearly molds spectator’s behavior, David’s poster and Rita’s

open construction give audiences a full understanding of the work: there are no tricks or

mysticism, the influence of Arena is honest. synthesize.r complicates this exchange, but I

believe a healthy balance is still preserved. With an entanglement of constantly evolving

parts, the performance is more intricate and technical than previous activations. The

unprepared spectator of Dia Beacon – seeing a projection of a placeless arena transform into

one of a drawing, disembodied hand –

may initially feel alienated; excluded from a joke they

thought they were in on. I think, though, the realization that the emerging lines are a

live-portrait of the model directly in front of you would incite such a moment of clarity and

inclusion that any prior confusion would be quickly forgiven and forgotten.

Even equipped with a full understanding of the production, being a spectator to synthesize.r

was incredibly exhausting. The intention behind Sofia’s lines and determination in the flow

of Wolfgang and Karolina made it seem imperative that my own body move with some

purpose. This was magnified to an extreme in front of the camera – immediately I was

sensitive to each body part and its position in space. I witnessed this same

body-consciousness in the audiences at Dia Beacon, who, without much success, would trip

over themselves to remain outside the camera’s line of sight. I felt a camaraderie with these

unwilling actors. The willing ones too: in the short-lived community created at the studio of

discoteca flaming star for an October weekend there existed no hierarchy or exclusivity.

Even when I sat still – afraid to make a noise or get out of my seat

– I imagined my role to be

important. This is not a common feeling for a member of an audience; thank you.From my unique position in the performance arose several questions on the nature of

spectatorship: in the production of synthesize.r, did I play my role well? More broadly – what

makes a good spectator? Is it he who is passive, who stays out of the way and limits his

relation with the work to observation and reflection? Or rather, is the good spectator she who

intercepts and disrupts the work, imbuing it with a subjectivity that only one outside of a

production can bring? The former is easier, which perhaps alone makes it the incorrect

choice, yet demanding the latter would produce a thoroughly ingenuine spectatorship.

I could not say what my reaction would be if I had walked into synthesize.r unprepared or an

unbeliever; if I was not invited, I wonder how long I would have stayed. I could not say – to

me, the performance was a sacred ritual, one I could not take my eyes off for a moment. My

hair whipped from left to right as I searched for my own personal cue. On other days, a

single source of content is not enough to keep my mind occupied. During synthesize.r, I was

fulfilled to watch a line emerge on a blank page. Especially when the rhythm of the

production became familiar, it felt as if [I/the line/it’s subject/the hand that drew it] were all

responding to the same shared physicality.

Petr Karpov