Liza Morozova

Born 1973 in Moscow, Russia / lives and works in Moscow

Liza Morozova deals with performances and explores their psychological aspects. She works as an artist, a teacher and a therapist. She considers her art not only as a profession or a way to earn her living, but a mission, an opportunity to change herself and other people. The changes are to affect individuals rather than masses. Liza Morozova participated of about 150 exhibitions and art festivals in 17 countries. She is the author of more than 50 performances and installations. She had been a member of the Escape program up to 2008.

'For many years now I have been creating situations of unusual communication in my performances:  I enter into unaccustomedly close contact with the spectator with the utopian aim of changing the system, of transforming one person’s consciousness. When doing so, the equality of our positions is a mandatory condition; and the changes that both sides – the artist and the spectator – ­­­­­undergo while communicating are of the utmost importance to me'.   

 

http://www.escapeprogram.ru/russian/members/liza.html

To be left-handed together (performance, installation)

Non-spectacularity is intensified in the new project: the action takes place not only in an enclosure, but in an isolated part of it. The space is reminiscent simultaneously of a confessional, a medical examination room and a jail where a secret meeting between the artist and the spectator takes place. Two parts of the enclosure, each with a separate entrance covered with a dark curtain, are connected by means of a cloth “sleeve.” When the spectator inserts his left hand into the sleeve he enters into free tactile communication with the project’s author. The symbolism of the left hand plays an important role. As is well known, the left hand is governed by the right cerebral hemisphere that is responsible for processing nonverbal information, abstract thinking, emotions and intuition, as well as for visual arts aptitude. However, unlike the right (“right”) hand that symbolizes the logocentrism of Western culture, presumes regimented communication and use (shaking hands, writing), the left hand is the weak one, whose activity is repressed by the right-handed society. The role and place of the artist in contemporary Western society is akin to the image of the lefty. The return of the left hand’s active position during the performance is an attempt to liberate the channels of perception repressed by Western culture, to switch the spectator to the language of images, live experience. The artist’s and spectator’s acting together is a ritual that symbolizes an attempt to unite all who have been rejected by society, an attempt at collective resistance through personal contact.

The project attempts to connect the personal and the social, as well as to unite two branches of Actionism – classic performance and activism. If physical touch can transmit a virus, can it also transmit talent, artistic experience or a political position?