BORIS NIESLONY
ART OF "BEGEGNUNG" 1.

Performance Art as a  picture of events that constitutes the society, the gesture of  Black Market International

1978 and 1979, I was inspired by some words and events that became essential for my    activities and led me step in the art of performance and to the Art of Begegnung.

for example:
Antonin Artaud wrote: “... the principal rules behave like dolphins, they rise up, show themselves for a short moment to vanish again in the deepness.” .. mais d´une autre réalité dangereuse et typique, ou les Principes, comme les dauphins, quand ils ont montré leur tête s´empressent de rentrer dans l´obscurité des eaux.
A.Artaud: le théâtre et son  double /le théâtre alchemistre / idées /gallimard
For me that’s the merest definition of Performance Art.

George Brecht, Robert Fillou: “If you want to know something you should spend your time with somebody who knows something. 1969, in: Life and Learning as performance art

The books of  Martin Buber: “Ich und Du” and “Der Balschem”.

I met Fluxus, the bushmen are speaking of the dream which is dreaming myself.

The thought, maybe the idea is: Nothing in the world is intended or found by one person alone. This thought, which was developed out of my occupation with alchemy and the theory of Buddhism was and still is the gravitation of all my activities.

The Art of Meeting can shaped in performance art, in  installation art, conferences, living sculptures, lectures and any differnt ways in the field of life and art.

1975, With 5 person we set up the communication tube archive. This work means a maximum of mental energy and information in exchange with a minimum on materialisation. It was a mistake, but it gaves me a basic sense of, maybe new, definition of performance as art and the first step to set up a network in physical and mental shape.
1977, I was cofounder of the Künstlerhaus Hamburg and 1978 a cofounder of the Kleinen Ausstellungsraum, which we developed the space to show continualy innstallation and performance art in Germany in this time.
1979 in November and December, I organised a series of exhibitions, installations, concerts and performances with the title “Two month of experimental work.” I carefully looked for the different forms of co-operation, the behaviour of couples and groups and other possibilities of interaction.
The following questions were interesting for me: What are the forms of invitation, what could be the framing conditions (padeluun & Rena Tangens) which don’t installate a hierarchy in the “Begegnung” and don’t let it fall down to conflicts in relationships, to interdependencies and normal group process, but instead of this normal group problems creates new pictures? (the condition is the picture.)
Which pictures are real interactive pictures? What is the real basis of Performance Art which shows itself as a picture, which is a picture, and how can Performance Art distinguish itself from normal daily actions? (Project: Allotropy of the daily life)

I met the group minus delta t, Mike Hentz &  Karel Dudeseck, I got to know the monthly Life-Project  - Kunoldstr. 34, organised by J.O. Olbrich. I met Kees Mol and I met Carola Riess. She founded the project Gästehaus (guests house) in the artists run space which was located in the Künstlerhaus Hamburg. Engelmann lived three month with us and we created the concept for Das Konzil, the concepts for the nomads and for the pieces of emigration.
Reindeer Werk performed their piece Prediction in Hamburg and Hannover. Tordoir Narciss told me the story of Todays Place in Antwerpen. I met Jacques van Poppel.
1981 - raised live-situations between 10 and 30 days. Together with the Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, I organised in September Das Konzil. 70 persons (40 of them invited guests) were confronted with each other, sitting around the specially for this situation created The Table. The guests had been chosen from persons, which I had met in the projects I organised during the last three years in the Kleinen Ausstellungsraum Hamburg. The most important influence to this Tool Group  had Harrie de Kroon, Mike Hentz, Jacques van Poppel, Franklin Alders, Firma Bender & Nern, Bernhard Schwarz.

The Tool Group was an open, nomadic and chaotic system of Performance Art. Parallel to that exists the Panoramagruppe (although  dealed with nomad performances), the Stil-Gruppe (talking and speech performances)  and open groups like Quasi mythische Orte (quasi mythic locations) who organised performance travels, which let for example to    the canalisation of Stuttgart, to the jail of Stammheim or to the highway during the daily stop-and-go in the rush hour.

1982 - in Mai I continued Das Konzil during an event of 30 days. 10 days in the Künstlerhaus Hamburg in the Kleiner Ausstellungsraum, and, at the same place, 10 days of seclusion. After this followed with Marina Kern and the Theater Dankerrt an open Live-situation with two containers from over-seas in the street and in the theatres-space. First idea for a network of Performance Art was born there.
In the same year Die Schwarze Lade of the Konzil was the first time published. This sculpture of public interest have three sections (1997):
a. information about alternative art spaces, projects with political works, projects interaction and network ideas.
b. materials for developing ideas, definitions, pictures and objects, which are free to use in interactive projects
c. the archive of Performance Art with 500 dossiers, literature, reviews, articles etc.

1983 I gave up the artists run space to get more mobile.  With the company Bender & Nern, Marina Kern, Kyoko Shimono and Bernhard Schwarz we founded the Projektkunst e.V.. The most important effort was the installation of MOBICOBU, some containers as a mobile Live-situation which could be moved for various projects.
Founding of Die Stifter, who organised in autumn the project Das Fest in Cologne.

I met Norbert Klassen and Zbigniew Warpechowski, I met Raoul Marek, Res Ingold, Ralf Samens
Since 1984 different interactive projects with different peoples and changing interventions.
The idea of an open group grows. I thing of seven persons. This association should be more solid as the different groups before should although have this interactive moment of Begegnung.
1985 - The theatre group THEAT and the philosophical performance program of the Aufmerksamkeitsschule of Zygmunt PioTrowski I saw and I met Tomas Ruller, whom invite for a performance, and Jürgen Fritz. Now we are seven.
In the discourse with Zygmunt PioTrowski, we found the name Black Market for this kind of meetings. This name should not represent the group but the principal ideas of the work.
1986 - I organised the first series of Black Market events.
1986 - I found the performance association ASA. The structure of ASA is opposite to that of Black Market but is refer like Black Market to an idea of Das Konzil: the Service.
First presentation of ASA in Bologna at the festival NO WALL. The first host had been together with padeluun, Rena Tangens, Raoul Marek, Peter Meier and Ute Meta Bauer.
ASA and Black Market was invited to take part at the documenta 8, 1987.
ASA - European was founded 1990. ASA European organised different performance meetings and events and developed the performance art network and the different projects by the temporary, members of ASA (look it own biography).
Zygmunt PioTrowski (1988 )and Tomas Ruller (1990) are leaving the group, Roi Vaara (1988),    Nigel Rolfe (1989), and Alastair MacLennan (1990) are joining. The new name is now: Black Market International. Corporations and meetings for examples with Neue Horizonte and different guests.
Black Market International invites 15 international artists for the performance piece Empedokles, 1993 in the framing program of the Documenta 9. ASA organised the project 100 days of service, the Quantenpool Köln, with Peter Farkas, Bernd v.d. Brincken, Van Gogh TV and 3Sat TV etc..
I initiate the founding of the Permanent-Performance-Konferenz, November 1995. Connections from  theory with practice as performance. Since its foundation there happened    7 conferences, 3 in Cologne, one in Hambourg 1997, one in Bangkok, 1997, one in Glarus/CH  and Frankfurt Main 1999.

My statment about Black Market International is, to make it every time able and to develope this princip away from all force of habit. All philosophical statements you will find in the black magzine which we produced 1991, in the magazine produced 1999, in the video " BLACK MARKET Networking " produced from O.K. Linz/A and in my text about " network and his structure "

Translation: Jürgen Fritz

1. There is no good translation for the German “Begegnung”. I  relies a lot to the definition of “communitas” what V. Turner made in his book “From Ritual to Theater”.