For the first Austrian Pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale, artist Liesl Raff invites us to Club Liaison, an expansive installation and performance space inspired by cabaret theatres and underground clubs.
The title picks up the idea of a liaison, an amorous relationship or form of exchange that flourishes in obscurity. The artist has long been interested in notions of reciprocity, between the different materials used in her sculptures, the space and the viewer, and her collaborators and their own artistic practices.
For her project at the LEEKANGHA Art Museum, Raff has chosen to work with latex, a natural, milk-like material that becomes rubbery when exposed to air and attaches itself to surfaces like a second skin. Hand-cast curtains in various shades of purple with a glossy, almost sweaty appearance, are draped around the space in different lengths and layers. With a stage at its centre, dim wall lights mounted on the surrounding walls, and a soundscape composed by Karolina Preuschl, the distinction between on- and off-stage, retreat and performance area, is blurred.
Club Liaison moves beyond a sculptural intervention, extending an invitation for social interaction and participation. Raff transforms the exhibition space into a sensory experience that opens realms and protective spaces of community and conviviality. On several evenings during the Biennale, Club Liaison will open its doors to become a venue for live performances by Austrian-based and Korean artists. The invited artists - whose backgrounds range from contemporary dance and performance art to experimental music - share an interest in reworking popular forms of entertainment with a conceptual and experimental approach. In a nod to Club Liaison's origins in cabaret, the artists will explore the subversive potential of the absurd, the dramatic and the sensual.
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