Photo credit: Marko Ercegović
Performance by Marko Marković and Lim Jang deals with the transformation of a text in the process of repetitions and translations. The artists repetitively perform a poem published in 1994 by Korean poet Choi Young-Mi, a fierce fighter for liberty and women's rights within the political and cultural context of South Korea.
To Be Alone (Hot blood soup) was translated from Korean into English, and then to Croatian and Serbian. Despite the inevitable rewriting that takes place when a work of poetry is to be translated, two unauthorized translators gave their best to keep the original meaning and sound of the poem through the collective process of going back and forth between the languages.
In the context of the curatorial: when the monuments come to life - refreshing the memory, the performance is precisely a "revival of memorials”. Spoken words bring the text to life in a completely different surrounding from when/where it was written. But has the meaning completely changed during the transmission process? The site of the performance speaks of present-day social circumstances and the danger in politics of revisionism which influences and modifies historical facts and the legacy of antifascist struggle throughout history. In such a time, how can the attempts of recollection be even close to being representative of the original that is no longer available?
Through the durational performance, the artists attempt to deliver the spirit of the original text, which is absent at the site of the performance. Through multiple (h)istories, through spoken words with a will to remember and deliver narratives on what already took place, maybe we can fight the political revisionism so prevalent today.
최영미 원본
혼자라는 건
뜨거운
순대국밥을 먹어본 사람은 알지
혼자라는 건
실비집 식탁에 둘러앉은 굶주린 사내들과
눈을 마주치지 않고 식사를 끝내는 것 만큼
힘든 노동이라는 걸
고개숙이고
순대국밥을 먹어본 사람은 알지
들키지 않게 고독을 남기는 법을
소리를 내면 안돼
수저를 떨어뜨려도 안돼
서둘러 순대국밥을 먹어본 사람은 알지
허기질수록 달래가며 삼켜야 한다는 걸
체하지 않으려면
안전한 저녁을 보내려면
Lim Jang Translation (KOR-ENG)
To be alone
One who had a hot blood soup alone knows,
that to be alone is as hard of a labor
as finishing a meal while successfully avoiding any eye contact with those
hungry men sitting around her table.
One who had a hot blood soup with her head down knows,
how to leave solitude without anyone noticing
Make no sound,
drop no spoon.
One who gulped a hot blood soup in a hurry knows,
the hungrier she is, the slower must she work her spoon
to not upset her stomach,
to leave the night in peace.
Marko Marković translation (Eng-Serbian/ Croatian) V.1
Ona koja je jela vruću krvavu supu sama zna
da biti sama je kao težak rad
kao dovršavanje jela dok uspješno izbjagava ikakav kontakt
tih gladnih muškaraca koji sjede oko njezinog stola
Ona koja je jela vruću krvavu supu pognute glave zna
kako napustit samoću da nitko ni ne primjeti
Ne izusti zvuka
Ne ispusti žlicu
Ona koja je gutala vruću krvavu supu u žurbi zna
da što je gladnija, sporije mora koristiti žlicu
da ne uznemiri želudac
da napusti noć u miru
Marko Marković translation (Eng-Serbian/ Croatian) V.2
Ona koja je jela vruću krvavu juhu sama zna
da biti sam jest kao i težak rad
kao završavanje obroka dok uspješno izbjegava poglede
tih gladnih muškaraca koji sjede za njezinim stolom
Ona koja je jela vruću krvavu juhu pognute glave zna
kako neprimjetno napustitit samoću
Ne ispusti zvuka
Ne ispusti kašiku
Ona koja je žurno gutala vruću krvavu juhu zna
što gladnija je to sporije mora koristiti kašiku
da ne uzruja stomak
da napusti noć u miru
Marko Marković translation (Eng-Serbian/ Croatian) V.3
Ona koja je sama jela vruću krvavu supu zna
da biti sam jest kao težina rada
dok završava jelo i uspješno izbjegava svaki očni kontakt
od tih gladnih muškaraca koji sjede za njenim stolom
Ona koja je pognute glave jela vruću krvavu supu zna
kako napustiti samoću da itko nit ne primjeti
Ne pravi zvuka
Ne ispuštaj žlicu
Ona koja je gutala vruću krvavu supu žurno zna
što gladnija ona je to sporije mora jest sa žlicom
da ne uznemiri svoj stomak
da napusti noć u miru