Elizabeta Kostadinovska

Bilingual /diptych/ serial:

The deconstructed novel :: Die Leinwand / Платно / The Canvas

by Benjamin Stein, 2017- today

+ English translation

Love is punk, not dead, 2020

mixed media works on (two) book pages :: the same part of the novel from the German original and the Macedonian translation are the basis of the works – chosen words/new text, drawing, color paper collage – are making their twin-look unique – separating them from the others. There were few earlier works with the same page number or only in one language, but as here described in diptych are following parts:

1. Визија во сино/Vision in Blau/Vision in blue, 2017 МК A4 / 2018 DE A3

published in perspective 94/95 in b/wLove is punk, not dead, 2020

2. Love is Punk not Dead

3. Poesie des Grauens/Поезија на ужасот/Poetry of horror, 2021 (soon more)

4. Vegvisir-Wegweiser-Патоказ-Wayfinder, 2022

:: Vegvisir ::

Some works of the serial, as other interdisciplinary artworks by the artist, are continuing their extended expression in multimedia poetry performance (video projection+sound+voice+text/poem), -the artworks are projected in the video and the new text is presented in multilingual (and polyphonic) vocal expression – using ready-made sound/music by selected bands/artists (Laibach for Love is punk not dead), or as for Vegvisir in collaboration with the sound artist Seht Zhan.

About the deconstruction:

The deconstruction of a text already begins with the author, but here it is continued on several levels: ⇒ with the translation from German – the artist is also a translator and has translated the book into Macedonian ⇒ through text reduction a new text/poem + drawing is created on the book page ⇒ the (almost) same text is selected in the other book in the other language (and the book page is provided with drawing) ⇒ the book page is separated from the respective book and made into a small collage with background of color papers glued and framed as pictures ⇒ A4

before that scanned and high quality prints are made (in high gloss) ⇒ For the art book  ⇒ they are sewn together with random pages from a catalog of the Berlin auction house “Jeschke van Vliet” with a sewing machine by the artist ⇒ and returned to book(let) format ⇒ Each piece of the limited copies available (has 8-9 pages, is unique and is wrapped in red transparent textbook foil – you have the plain texts as title page (DE) and back page (MK), and the English translation as an additional loose page inside : :

for the multilingual (polyphonic) multimedia poetry performance :: a background video with pictures of the artwork (and others) is made, connected to sound – in a rehearsal with the sound artist (and some prerecording)  or chosen tracks combined and connected to the video. To that prepared background the text is presented live multilingual (and in polyphony) – alone or with sound artist – sometimes adding other expressions (dance, theater) – which all enter, deconstruct, extend and exit the actual work, bringing it for a while to another dimension (outside of it’s static state).

The deconstructed novel is a serial that is still work in progress, but parts of it had already some presentations. It already has strong contemporary artistic expressions, but also the possibility to grow.