The Death of Ego performance art

Performance “Death of Ego” by Julia Kiryanova in collaboration with Patrick Schmatzer

Original was uploaded on 2022-05-26

Performance Death of Ego
Julia Kiryanova and Patrick Schmatzer
Supported by Mondriaan Funds
Prospects, Art Rotterdam 2022

Performance “Death of Ego” I presented during @art_rotterdam and Prospects @mondriaanfonds
It’s a performance about struggle, pain, frustration and surrender of being. It’s a story about a creatures being in despair looking for themselves and feeling as a strangers in the world. Patrick Schmatzer, a red-painted performer, is impulsive character, playing an Ego or one of Egos, trying to dominate, but others are matter and important equally as him. During performance he tried to escape but he can’t manage and as a result he gives up. He disappear in the pile of Egos. They all merged into one. They’re all together and apart at the same time. They peacefully ended up in rest. The struggle is over.

Patrick Schmatzer
Philemon Mukarno
Shimaya Jahangiri
Samm Lewis
Lucia
Marita de Vries
Dominic
Lara
Jose
Raquel
Gurk
Jamie

This performance art piece by Julia Kiryanova and Patrick Schmatzer features a group of nude performers coated in white body paint with red accents. They form a dramatic, entangled tableau on the gallery floor, evoking themes of mortality and ego dissolution. The scene unfolds in a contemporary art space with a large chaotic tapestry in the background.