GADU GADU is an interdisciplinary game by artists for artists. Developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, several rounds have already taken place since 2020 in co-production with Maschinenhaus Essen. Nine artists from Poland and Germany are involved.
How does GADU GADU work?
A GADU GADU game round always starts with a question, which is published at the beginning. When the question is published, one of the artists is nominated to answer it. The answer is given by developing and publishing an artistic work. With the publication of the first answer, the answering artist nominates another artist. The nominated artist receives a challenge or a restriction for their own answer, which relates to both the initial question and the answers already published.
The question
All artists work on a question, which is formulated in writing. The question always refers to the artists' working reality and asks about working methods, artistic challenges or topics of inspiration.
The answer
The initial question is the only contribution in written form and in English. All further contributions, as all answers, use aesthetics, performative actions, movement, language, music, drawings and much more as a form of communication. A response can take the form of various media: As an image, moving image, sound or writing. The artists decide for themselves which media they want to use and which artistic means they use in their response.
The challenge/restriction
In addition to the time slot for the submission of the next answer, the nominated artist will also receive a challenge or restriction formulated in English.
Nomination
The nomination of the next artist involves setting a date and time for the response and creating a challenge or restriction for the nominated artist.
The challenge is an openly formulated instruction as a guideline for the next answer. Examples from past games look like this: »use an unacceptable color and breathe more deeply«, »What does ugliness mean to you? Try to make something ugly«.
The restriction has the same task of giving a direction for the next answer, but is formulated less openly and prescribes a certain technique, for example.
For example: »use floortechnique for your answer« (floorwork is a specific technique from modern dance), »try to make your answer in the pitch C«.
The nominated artists are of course free to interpret the challenge or restriction as they wish.
What is the goal?
GADU GADU is a game by and for artists in which the focus is on the artistic work in the context of the question and the fun of experimenting. All works are published free of charge on the website www.gadu-gadu-project.eu and later archived. The project was born out of the need to maintain artistic exchange, which has been restricted by the pandemic. Artistic work thrives on exchange with the environment and experimentation, and GADU GADU is a playful way to live out exchange and experimentation in an expanded setting. Spectators are given an unfamiliar perspective on the artistic working methods of the participating artists and the artists expand their artistic working methods in a framework that provides them with new impulses and challenges.
