Catalogue > At random

The video-installation The tape recorded surprise; Interview with I.J. starts from the intriguing life of South African poet Ingrid Jonker (1933/1965). Jonker became politically engaged in the fifties when she vehemently opposed a law imposing censorship on publications and entertainment. Her work was published in Drum, a clandestine ‘black’ magazine and rewarded South Africa’s most prestigious literature prize, but she was forgotten after her suicide in 1965. After the fall of the Apartheid-regime in 1990 Jonker became a figure of mythical proportions. Since then, Jonker’s texts and mediated identities are assumed, transformed into symbols then imbued with various meanings by interested parties. Actresses, biographers, admirers and politicians piece together Jonker’s story, growing it into something ghost- like – unfixed yet omnipresent. In the videowork two actresses are presented to us. Nicola Hanekom, recently played Jonker in a theatre-play. Grethe Fox, an older actress, knew Jonker when she was a child, and always wanted to play her. Paul Hendrikse worked with them and carried out various interviews. Subsequently he swapped the positions. Both actresses had to work together and try to close their respective gaps on both sides, each coaching the other on how to depict her falsified relationship to the iconic poet.

Paul Hendrikse biography Paul Hendrikse is a visual artist who lives and works in Antwerp and Berlin. His work explores the interfaces between historiography and fiction. In his search for alternative knowledge about historical events, Hendrikse shuns the big narratives in favour of individual micro-histories. It is an approach that expresses his rejection of the possibility of representing history in a single, authoritarian way. His projects – many of them performances or work of a performative nature – frequently result from prolonged and extensive research. This can culminate in a variety of media, including publications, installations, audio-visual work and performances. Hendrikse’s work has been shown in recent years at S.M.A.K. in Ghent, the Kunsthalle Basel, Onomatopee and the Contour Biennial 2013. He was awarded the Prix Jeune Peinture Belge, Prix Langui. in 2011. paulhendrikse.net