By performing the song Je Suis Malade, the protagonist/child immerses itself in the lyrics, but has no direct relationship to it since it is not able to conceive the concepts of the story that it engages in. The language is foreign to the performer(s) and they do not understand the meaning of the words. The sense of artificiality/alienation is omnipresent since the feeling of naturalness or spontaneity is not accommodated. The figure of the child does not gaze at the onlooker, so there is no sense of communication being exchanged. It is through these mechanisms that Kaludjerović is able to connect this video and make a direct relationship to the large opus of his previous work that engage in similar concerns. The performance of the child is ritualized, making parallels with the stimulation of youthful innocence for purposes of visual consumption. There is a conceptual link between the girl’s singing about being ill and the state of malady in our globalized society, which is deeply immersed in consuming to the point that effects start to bear resemblance.
The video installation, projected on a transparent fabric, (1m 70cm high and 50cm wide) acts as a freestanding sculpture, suspended from the ceiling on fine nylon. Due to the total darkness of the space the child appears almost real and one could imagine that in fact it exists in space. The viewer has a natural tendency to walk around the piece, only to find out that the front of the girl is replicated on the back as well. Kaludjerovic subtly comments on the surface culture of our society, which shows only a front, rarely exposing what exists behind the exterior.
The ghost like quality is omnipresent due to the transparency of the material that the video is projected on so the image gets reflected on the floor creating a flow of color that generates a very painterly sensation.
extract from the text WHERE HAVE ALL THE CHILDREN GONE? by B.Bošković
I Am Sick
I can’t dream no more,
I can’t smoke no more
I don't even have a personal history no more
I am dirty without you, I am ugly without you
I am like an orphan in a dormitory
I don't feel like living my life no more
My life stops when you leave
I don't have a life no more and even my bed
Turns into a platform on a train station When you leave
I am sick completely sick
Just like my mother when she used to go out at night Leaving me alone in my despair
I am sick, perfectly sick
You arrive - one never knows when You leave again - one never knows where to
And it's been nearly two years
Since you last gave a damn
Like on a boulder, like on a sin
I am hooked on you
I am tired, I am exhausted
Of pretending to be happy when they are here
I drink all nights but all the whiskies
taste the same to me
And all the boats exhibit your flag
I don't know where to go anymore, you are everywhere
I am sick, completely sick
I pour my blood into your body
And I am like a dead bird when you are asleep
I am sick, completely sick
You have deprived me of all my songs
You have emptied me of all my words
Though I was talented prior to your skin
That love is killing me and if things keep going
I'll die all alone with myself
Near my radio like an idiotic kid
Listening to my own voice that will sing
I am sick, completely sick
Just like my mother when she used to go out at night Leaving me alone in my despair
I am sick, that's it, I am sick You deprived me of all my songs You emptied me of all my words
And I have a sick heart
Surrounded my barricades, can you hear me? I am sick!
