Vladimir Bovt

conceptueel - installatie - performance - proces - video

Imagine the following: You are standing somewhere. On the opposite of you is another. What happens if you take a step closer to that other? Will the other remain where he or she is? Will the other react to it by taking a step back, keeping the initial distance with you the same? Or will the other reduce this distance even more by also taking a step closer?

This is the game that I am playing in my work, testing this with myself as guinea pig and the other being the audience or different players that are part of the construction where my work is presented. Using tools from the visual and the performing arts, I research both the physical and invisible space around us, wanting to know how far personal space reaches and how personal space can be visualised and experienced.


Distantie | 2020 | Video - Distantie (Dutch word; English translation is somewhere between distance and detachment) is a video work about three characters being in rhythms of approaching and distancing themselves from each other. This video is created as a musical composition, with the three characters playing separate parts for the same score. The choreography for the characters was made using basic principles on staging positions from cinematography and theatre.
Parade | 2019 | Performance - This performance was part of a parade in Rotterdam where I also took part in. In this work, I did a rendition of a work by Bruce Nauman, Good Boy Bad Boy, from 1985. The original is a video installation with two actors saying the same 100 phrases that all start with a conjugation of the verb ‘to be’. Both actors go through this sequence five times, beginning in a neutral tone and slowly increasing the intensity of saying these phrases until they appear very angry at the end. The costume of this performance is made by Sachia Pereira-Stolle.
Archived Being and Being Archived | 2018 | Installation - Archived Being and Being Archived is an installation where I exposed different archival documents in an office-setting in the form of card catalogues, envelopes and folders. These documents contain information that either I or other authorities have about myself. Although some of the catalogues or folders do give a hint on what kind of information might be on the inside, most of them do not disclose much when seen from the outside. In order to see this content, the visitors first had to fill in their personal details on a contact form and sign a contract made specifically for this work. Also, there was a camera filming everyone entering the space surrounding the installation.
Cue | 2019 | Video - Cue is a short video. Together with my other video Cue 1, it is part of a sequence on the topic of waiting. In both of these works, when the action is on, I start waiting for the next.
‘Matcht Precies’ | 2019 | Photo series (of De Kunstband) - Matcht Precies is a series of photo works from the collaboration that I am in, De Kunstband, where we walked with bags filled with our clothes through the city of Rotterdam and dressed accordingly to the colours of our surroundings.
Brug Jamming | 2019 | Jam (of De Kunstband) - Brug Jamming is video documentation of one of the jam sessions that we did in the open air in the spring of 2019 as part of the collaboration that I am in, De Kunstband. This jam session took place under a bridge in Spangen, Rotterdam-West.
Opstellingen | 2019 | Performance - For this performance, the frame of the photograph on the left is used as the dividing line on who belongs and who doesn’t belong to the simulated group. This work took the form of (systemic) constellations (Opstellingen in Dutch) to look into the roles of different individuals within groups. Investigating this using an old photograph of my great-great-grandfather, I simulated this image in real life by positioning six actors precisely as on the picture. Then I once asked each player to step out of the created image and subsequently asked the public what changes they observed for the rest of the group that was still standing. My approach with this work was that when a group member steps outside of the frame, creating an empty spot, his role in this group becomes clearer. After doing this, I assigned the specific roles to each individual within the group on the picture.