PERFORMANCE:Georgia Lale-Fragile Monuments

Georgia LaleDuring the “Fragile Monuments” durational performance, I was standing under the Murano chandelier at the main hall of the Palazzo Morra, in Venice. I was wearing only a hospital gown that I was taking off and putting on, while I was rotating around myself for five hours. The action was a statement about my ongoing fight with cancer. My goal was to see the body as a cultural monument that needs to be preserved and restored because it has been exposed to damaging environmental conditions, like Venice itself. During the performance there was times that I needed the hospital gown and times that I didn’t. This performance taught me that I have to give my body time to fight the disease and accept that I cannot fast forward this process. This action falls under the performance series “IODINE-131” and aims to challenge the stereotypes around cancer, symptomless disease and invisible disability while raising awareness about the up rise of thyroid cancer in people of young age. The “Fragile Monuments” performance was hosted by the Venice International Performance Art Week, Co-Creation Live Factory and took place in January 15, 2020. Georgia Lale

CV: Georgia Lale is a Greek visual artist with Anatolian heritage, based in New York City. She received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York City, and her BFA from the Athens School of Fine Arts, Greece. Her piece #OrangeVest was presented at the Greek Pavilion at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale. She is the recipient of the Goulandris Foundation scholarship, the Gerondelis Foundation scholarship and the School of Visual Arts Paula Rhodes Memorial Award for Exceptional Achievement in MFA Fine Arts studies. Her work has been shown internationally, including New York City, Venice, Berlin, Brussels, Athens and Izmir. Lale’s public interventions have been performed at the Metropolitan Museum of the Arts, at the National Mall of Washington D.C., at the Statue of Liberty, at the United Nations Secretariat Building, at the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens and at the Celsus Library of Ephesus. She has been the panel member of numerous academic conferences organized by the Dedalus Foundation, the MoMA Archives, the Yale History of Art Modernist Forum and the Yale School of Management.

Georgia Lale, Fragile Monuments, 2020, Duration 5 hours, Documentation by Mauro Sambo, © Georgia Lale, Courtesy of the artist
Georgia Lale, Fragile Monuments, 2020, Duration 5 hours, Documentation by Mauro Sambo, © Georgia Lale, Courtesy of the artist

 

 

Georgia Lale, Fragile Monuments, 2020, Duration 5 hours, Documentation by Mauro Sambo, © Georgia Lale, Courtesy of the artist
Georgia Lale, Fragile Monuments, 2020, Duration 5 hours, Documentation by Mauro Sambo, © Georgia Lale, Courtesy of the artist

 

 

Georgia Lale, Fragile Monuments, 2020, Duration 5 hours, Documentation by Mauro Sambo, © Georgia Lale, Courtesy of the artist
Georgia Lale, Fragile Monuments, 2020, Duration 5 hours, Documentation by Mauro Sambo, © Georgia Lale, Courtesy of the artist

 

 

Georgia Lale, Fragile Monuments, 2020, Duration 5 hours, Documentation by Mauro Sambo, © Georgia Lale, Courtesy of the artist
Georgia Lale, Fragile Monuments, 2020, Duration 5 hours, Documentation by Mauro Sambo, © Georgia Lale, Courtesy of the artist

 

 

Georgia Lale, Fragile Monuments, 2020, Duration 5 hours, Documentation by Mauro Sambo, © Georgia Lale, Courtesy of the artist
Georgia Lale, Fragile Monuments, 2020, Duration 5 hours, Documentation by Mauro Sambo, © Georgia Lale, Courtesy of the artist

 

 

Georgia Lale, Fragile Monuments, 2020, Duration 5 hours, Documentation by Mauro Sambo, © Georgia Lale, Courtesy of the artist
Georgia Lale, Fragile Monuments, 2020, Duration 5 hours, Documentation by Mauro Sambo, © Georgia Lale, Courtesy of the artist