Of Puppets and Humans

Ciprian Mureșan

Cover
Softcover

Edition
2015, 20 x 27 cm, 272 pp., 86 ill., Romanian/English

Collection
Artist Book Series

ISBN 978-973-0-20231-1

Book concept
Ciprian Mureșan

Editor
Alina Șerban

Authors
Marius Babias & Silke Wittig, Gianina Cărbunariu, Florence Derieux, Miklós Erhardt, Alexandru Polgár, Iulia Popovici, Saviana Stănescu

Design
Esra Oezen

Ciprian Mureșan (b. 1977) is one of the most well-known Romanian artists on the international art scene. The book follows the convergence between theatre and art in Ciprian Mureșan’s artistic practice, which is either a speculative form of understanding the world or a way of humanising reality. The reader is drawn into a universe of contradictions and challenges to reality which re-evaluate the function of art, the position of the artist in the social realm, and the conditions and limits within which artistic production operates. Focusing on four works conceived by the artist between 2009 and 2015, set out from a (subjective) “rewriting” of a number of dramatic texts, this publication puts forward a possible interpretation of Mureșan’s fascination for the “aesthetics of the human” (to invoke Heinrich Böll’s expression in an extended sense), for the intertextual references that unexpectedly arise from the vulnerability of the encounter between humans and puppets, between the animating and the animated, and from working with children and dramaturgical languages.

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Interview with
Ciprian Mureșan

1 / 5
I would like to discuss the presence of puppets in your work. Are there any direct references, either personal or contextual? Why did you turn to this artistic form which has such a complex history and which has redefined the way we experience/perceive the world?
Besides the fact that as a child I was somewhat intrigued by the grotesque appearance of puppets, my son Vlad did puppet theatre when he was around eight years old after school, at the Children’s Club. When I went to his lessons, I would observe things behind the scenes and, as I mentioned in the interview published in the book, I tried to “change the rules of the game” by imagining a play titled Dog Luv (2009, after a dramatic text by Saviana Stănescu) in which everything—the puppeteers, the puppets, the background and the props—have the same importance, all hiding in the darkness of a black stage (as opposed to being “in plain sight”). The blackness or emptiness of the stage in theatre is the equivalent of a blank page. It is like writing in white ink on paper. The second piece, titled I’m Protesting Against Myself (2011), produced in collaboration with Gianina Cărbunariu, involved an improvised stage made out of a garbage bin whose design served to hide a puppeteer inside, with the puppets in full view. In the third project, from 2015, we tried to stage children’s texts performed for adults, not the other way around, as used to be the custom. It was all made out of curiosity and to see what would happen.
2 / 5
Puppets are often seen as a substitute for reality. They can perform that which is impossible for humans and say things that are difficult to confess. From this perspective, how do you decide which themes are presented in the form of a performance for an audience and which in the form of video?
The tradition shows that the king’s jester could tell the truth in the form of jokes… Without having his head cut off right after. The piece was not a total success by any means. Some interpreted the humour used in Dog Luv as failing or as a downside when it came to serious matters, but I guess it comes down to choice. You need a solid budget to perform in front of an audience, so it is not a huge decision to present it as a video.
3 / 5
In the interview published in the book, you mention that you only work “with” theatre when it is essential to the kind of piece you want to create. How did the transition of forms and media alter the experience of these works? I am referring to the inevitable, repetitive dimension necessary in performance, but also its immediacy and the difference in the public’s distance from the stage.
Live performances, for instance, especially in the case of I’m Protesting Against Myself, are more moving, but when it comes to video, because of the editing, the repetition of several shots has a kind of Marinetti feeling which turns it into something else, into a kind of “broken record.” In live performances you might have moments of catharsis, whereas video allows for moments of reflection.
4 / 5
In 2015, you wanted your video works to be performed by puppets. Are you still interested in this kind of approach today? What would change from the original version?
Yes, one of my (yet) unrealised projects is to create a stage in which all the videos I have made are performed by puppets, however, I thought I would better not do it, as that would fetishise the genre and it would perhaps lead me towards an unwanted mannerism. It is still somehow possible to make this project happen if I forget why I cancelled it (frankly, due to the budget and the organisational hassle).
5 / 5
What role does a book about your work play for you? To what extent can it trigger an introspective process of reflection on your artistic practice?
It is dangerous to frame yourself into categories or artistic movements, and a book has the power to do so. It certainly jeopardises the artist’s future practices because you may feel compelled to continue in the direction that has been established in print, for what is written, remains. On the other hand, it is good as memorabilia, as a document; again, what is written, stays forever.