OPEN OPERA BOOTLEG BOX / 2024

Kris Van Dessel & Liz Kampe

 

A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. Making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging. Recordings may be copied and traded among fans without financial exchange, but some bootleggers have sold recordings for profit, sometimes by adding professional-quality sound engineering and packaging to the raw material. Bootlegs usually consist of unreleased studio recordings, live performances or interviews without the quality control of official releases. (source: Wikipedia)

In 120 empty vinyl record protective sleeves, a cut-up fragment of previous prints (LIVING APPROACHES) by the artist Kris Van Dessel was inserted. These paper geometric shapes were signed, numbered and stamped with the artist's logo. Randomly cut up (colored) paper shapes were then added. Supposedly a contribution of artist Liz Kampe, who in reality would not exist but is listed with images in a catalog. The 120 unique copies were placed in a portable vinyl record box.

Liz Kampe is supposedly a pseudonym of a fellow artist known to Kris Van Dessel, although he is very mysterious about this and neither denies nor confirms its existence to this day. Liz Kampe carried out a performance: a naked young lady, as a “stand in,” performed a manipulation with cardboard boxes painted in basic colors. Kris Van Dessel produced a stamp that read “OPEN OPERA BOOTLEG BOX / 2024, Kris Van Dessel & Liz Kampe.” The so-called paper forms produced by Liz were stamped with this. This work of art was produced on the occasion of the exhibition Open Opera*, A TAFEREEL, *Het nulpunt verspringt (de 360° voorbij).

Portable vinyl record box / 120 vinyl record protecting sleeves / 240 pieces of printed paper / stamp / 37 x 35.5 x 20.5 cm / 2024.

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related exhibition: ​ Open Opera* - een tafereel - *het nulpunt verspringt (de 360° voorbij)