The Unvanquished

Video installation

4 min. loop Exit Art 2004 New York, NY

p art of Sara Lahat private collection

 

 

GENERATIV 3

Generativ 3 was created in 2004 and debuted at Casino Royale, in Santiago, Chile. Generativ 3 is nicoykatiushka’s first collaborative performance piece. Twenty two balls of light are hung in a perfect circle with two main entries leading towards the center. The lights are being controlled by an external source. NyK enter and exit the center, completing movements that are conditioned by the costumes, the set, lights and sound. They wear velcro suits that allow them to become one person in perfect sync. This is nicoykatiushka’s first evening length piece, lasting one hour.

 

 

 

FRUIT

Fruit is a single channel video performance,,created on June 20, 2003, the day of nicoykatiushka’s wedding. Fruit is the first video piece they created, symbolizing their unending collaboration. nicoykatiushka are in bodycasts in public areas while eating fruits with only their mouths, depending on each other to finish.

Fruit has been shown in several venues such as Monkey Town in Brooklyn, NY, Abington Art Center in Pennsylvania, among others. Fruit has participated in the Visual Arts DVD as well as being reviewed in the Visual Arts Journal, Spring 2006.

 

“There is far too much pleasure, sensuality and plain old beauty in nicoykatiushka’s performance for the larger question even to enter the viewer’s mind. The critical aspects of their intentions is quite obscured by their humor” -Grahame Weinbren, Millennium Film Journal.

 

 

 

LIGHTNING FROM THE EAST

Lightning from the East is a video installation comissioned by Exit Art for the Holiday Window Display in December 2005. The installation consists of three 12” screens in which a white washed out image of a woman is projected, one screen containing the head, the second the torso and the last the legs. 64 white doves are placed over a fluorescent tube of light facing towards the screens, forming a cross. The video installation is a nativity honoring the Chinese religious sect “Lightning from the East”, which venerates and believes that a 30 year old Chinese woman is Jesus’ reincarnation. K portrays this woman who has never been seen by the followers of the sect.

 

 

 

 

SLEEP

Public Sleep/Sleepover is a series of performances that took place in Artist Space in NYC over a fourteen hour time frame. Curated by Koosil-Ja, several artists performed at the same time in the same space. NyK took an area of the gallery and set up a live studio with three TV monitors, three video cameras and lights to set the stage. They constantly delved into ideas relating to the mediated image creating three performances; Beautify, Sleep and Tease.

Sleep is a performance that takes an everyday private action and displays it publicly. nicoykatiushka dress elegantly, lie down on their sides and sleep behind two television screens. Behind the screens a camera is filming a live feed of only their heads onto the televisions. The real and the mediated image merge forming one image.

 

 

 

 

BEAUTIFY

 

Beautify is a performance that last 60 minutes, the length of a mini dv tape. N applies lipstick on K’s mouth during the entire sixty minutes using a constant circular motion. As his arm becomes weary the circle becomes looser around the mouth and each stroke thickens K’s lips. At the same time the image is being recorded and projectd onto the television screens. They switch roles and K beautifies N. N’s moustache captures large quantities of lipstick making a ridiculous dripping red mouth.

Beautify has also been exhibited at The Visual Arts Gallery and Exit Art, as well as forming part of NyK’s solo show, The Apartment, which received numerous press in Chile.

 

 

 

TEASE

 

Tease is the last performance of the series, also lasting 60 minutes. NyK each stand behind a tripod with a mounted video camera pointing towards them. K’s camera frames her torso and N’s camera frames his hips. The two televisions are mounted one on top of the other. K’s torso on top and N’s hips on the bottom, forming one mediated body composed of male and female. K slowly lifts her shirt about to expose her body, but releases the fabric as N simultaneously unbuttons his pants slowly lowering them. Both engage in a show repetitive action provoking the audience with curiosity.

 

 

 

 

BETWEEN YOU AND ME

 

Between you and me is a three hour performance shown at Exit Art as part of the Trickster Theater: Wild Girls performance series. K’s obsession with undergarments consists of 180 panties, dating back from her teenage life. N puts all 180 pairs of panties on K behind stage. nicoykatiushka are elegantly dressed and enter the stage hand in hand. K takes her place and N enters underneath her dress. He slowly takes each pair off and places them on the ground forming a color coordinated circle. It is performed in a slow and repetitive manner for three hours, becoming a rhythmic choreography. This continues until they have all been removed. They exit the space hand in hand.

 

 

 

MELT

 

Melt is a performance piece based on Laurie Anderson’s “Duets on Ice”. nicoykatiushka are both dressed in white elegant garb as well as matching white ice skates. They enter the space holding hands and walk towards a 4 ft x 3 ft block of ice. NyK get on the ice and immediately begin to kiss. The performance lasts until the block of ice has melted. Melt went on for four hours as their skates slowly wedged into the ice block and the water from the ice spread along the floor of the space. nicoykatiushka performed Melt at Exit Art in 2006 for the Trickster Theater: Water series.

 

 

 

SHARED

 

Shared is a 13 channel video installation and nicoykatiushka’s first solo show exhibited at Media Noche Gallery in NYC. Four main pieces were exhibited in this show; Fuck is in the air, Share I, Share II and Share III. Fuck is in the air is a seven channel syncronized video installation. All screens display nicoykatiushka in the middle of the frame, with an extreme zoom in. nicoykatiushka can be seen making repetitive and small movements. As the image zooms out nicoykatiushka are finally seen in their entirety, in what seems to be an antigravitational choreography, as always elegantly dressed. The Share series all use the combined image of nicoykatiushka’s bodies, eliminating all ego to become one entity.

 

 

 

 

FUCK SERIES

 

The Fuck Series is composed of five digital images depicting nicoykatiushka’s Fuck is in the air filmed in different touristic parts of the world. A digital postcard is then created in reponse to the piece. The tourist is never citizen and under this anarchic state nicoykatiushka create this series with the touristic superficial eye, apropiating different archetype attractions and filmed themselves fucking in the air. They use attractions such as The Great Wall in China, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the American flag in the suburbs of USA and the skyline of NYC. The name of the piece: Fuck NYC, Fuck USA, Fuck China, Fuck Saigon and Fuck Cambodia offers a double lecture, on one hand it refers to the sexual act and the other hand it can be read as a pejorative attitude towards the country, a superficial lecture, affiliated to the tourist’s attitude.

Fuck is in the air (Fuck USA, Fuck NY, Fuck China, Fuck Saigon, Fuck Cambodia)

digital prints 2007

 

 

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM NICOYKATIUSHKA

 

Merry Christmas from nicoykatiushka is a piece based on a Chris Burden’s action in which he sends one hundred 10 USD bills to one hundred people in the art world, half are personal and half are business relations. An alphabetical list was kept starting with Acconci, recording every person’s serial number. nicoykatiushka have intervened this idea by taking a10 RMB bill and stamping the phrase - commonly used in their work - “copycenter is the center to copy” and the NK logo. nicoykatiushka select twenty five people in the art world who have relations with NK and send them a 10 RMB bill with a greeting card stating “Merry Christmas from nicoykatiushka”. Unlike Chris Burden, nicoykatiushka put one hundred limited edition pieces for sale online for 10 USD each.

Merry Christmas from nicoykatiushka 10 RMB, greeting card and envelope 2007

 

 

 

 

UNTIL DEATH DO US PART

Till Death Do Us Part is a two channe video installation portraying a classic spaghetti Western duel in which NyK shoot each. While falling to their deaths they fall to the ground forming one combined dead body.

Death Boxes consists of 100 4 x 6 cm boxes ,each with a still frame from a duel similar to Till Death Do Us Part. On the surface the shooting sequence is spread throughout the boxes. Inside each box is a firecracker with only the wicker sticking out. When the box is exploded the death of nicoykatiushka is witnessed, again the final image portrays the combination of NyK’s bodies.