Katalin Ladik

Language is at the heart of Katalin Ladik’s practice. Her expansive attitude to poetry materializes on the pages of her books, in music scores, on the wall, through concrete poems, and visual collages, almost all of them accompanied by sonic interpretations that show the artist’s extraordinary vocal range.

All these works speak to Ladik’s process of “logopoiesis”: to bring into existence new registers of language through acts of poetry, utterance, and visualization. Or, to follow the title of her eponymous 1976-album, a process of “phonopoetica”, to understand poetry through the voice.

Say the exhibition title out loud: nine times “O”, rounding your lips and vibrating your vocal cords, a short pause at the dash, and then the gentle push of “pus”. You have now entered the world of Katalin Ladik.

Feminism and mythologies

The visual and sonic poems also allow for a deeper understanding of Katalin Ladik’s work in performance, which is the red thread of throughout the exhibition. A clear feminist position emerges here, as Ladik provocatively challenged established traditions and gender roles by embodying their inherent contradictions. She simultaneously appears as male and female, covered and exposed, inviting and repelling, playful and severe.

“Ooooooooo-pus” highlight how Ladik’s multifaceted practice is imbued with religious, folkloric, and mythological motifs. After all, all the major themes in her work — language, nationalism, gender, femininity, the body, technology — are deeply mythological.

Ultimately, sound is the connecting tissue in the exhibition. Each gallery has its own soundtrack based on Ladik’s visual poetry, once again emphasizing that “Ooooooooo-pus” is an exhibition that needs to be said out loud, as it should be heard as much as seen.