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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

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