Pivka (SI)
Curator:
Mojca Grmek
In this exhibition, entitled Tourette’s by proxy, Ivana presents large-scale drawings that explore Tourette’s Syndrome. The term refers to a set of symptoms first described by the French neurologist Gilles de la Tourette (1857–1904) and named as a tic disorder. This is a complex neurological-psychiatric disorder characterised by physical and vocal tics, which may be accompanied by a range of other disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, hyperkinetic disorder, panic attacks, depression and anxiety. Physical tics are manifested by twitching, blinking, waving of the hands, tensing of the mouth or shoulders, wiggling of the fingers, etc. Vocal tics are usually expressed as snoring, coughing, inarticulate sounds, barking, grunting and so on. In rare cases, vocalisation may also include socially inappropriate words and phrases (swear words, insults, name-calling) called coprolalia.
The artist is particularly taken with the latter because in the context of extreme political correctness on the one hand, and completely undisciplined trolling on the other, they function as the only way to express one’s personal opinion in a spontaneous and sincere manner. The artist researched Tourette’s Syndrome on the internet, especially the recordings that sufferers post on YouTube channels, and filled her notebook with sketches of personal interpretations of their statements. The drawings shown in the exhibition were created on the basis of these sketches.