Art practices/Monstration

Definition
from wikipedia: "A monstration is a public performance similar to a demonstration, but intended as creative performance art, often parodying a serious demonstration." See monstration

The term was invented by Russian art activists to go into the streets and to show all the absurdity of the legitimated protest demonstrations.

=Monstrations of the Alytus Biennial Art Strike and DAMTP =

The psychic workers of DAMTP and Alytus Biennial have developed the monstration away from the absurdism and towards focussed revolutionary activity. The use of language in slogans and banners was the first focus - the psychic. Subsequently, also clothing, touch, sound, taste, political orientation have all been explored as the physical and psychic terrains of the monstration. in this way the monstration can be seen as a constructed situation that can intervene in existing institutional and public situations.

2009


Slogans were collected in different languages from the participants from different countries and all translated into a common language ie Spanish (since there were no spanish delegates at the meeting and one person knew enough spanish to translate all the slogans)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIWbrBhgOgc

2011
Long discussions ended with the decision to have placars with a single slogan written in two different languages. This decision was ignored by most participants. Some slogans were written in asemic and especially asemicised arabic.

Tabards with the text VISUOTINIS PSICHO DARBININKUS STREIKAS were printed and worn by participants. the slogan is lithuanian meaning GLOBAL PSYCHO WORKERS STRIKE

Slogans were chanted in Lithuanian, English, Spanish and Asemic. Also instruments were used to make noise during the monstration.

2013
DesaKalaPatraGraph being prepared and then used on the monstration

Yellow raincoats sprayed with hypergraphics and slogans were the dress

Fidelis Mbaku lead a singing session at the main water fountain.

2015
A MetaDKPgraph was used as well as banners with Asemic writing and slogans written in clay

Clay was also used to cover the clothes, faces and bodies of the participant workers.

The monstration entered the G4S depot again this year and the security staff engaged the monstration and threatened to call the police.

The march ended at the lake in Alytus where people entered the water and washed off the clay.