Johannes Zits

Works With Live Art Danmark
2019 “Dialoguing With Trees”, Live Art for Børn
2019 Performance Recipe for “Performance Opskrivter”

Dialoguing With Trees
For this performance Johannes put himself into an empathic state with some trees and attempted to convey to them the divergent impressions of nature within an art context. He achieved this with nonverbal actions and various found elements. The grouping of trees that he worked with, situated in the very civilised context of a park in central Aalborg, attest to how for centuries people have been trying to “tame” nature; making it conform to varying cultural ideals. As successive art movements have been built on top of each other, it necessitated some contextualization in order to let these trees know how art movements have evolved and shaped their present state.

Dialoguing With Trees Performance Recipe
Based on his performance, Johannes developed a score that makes the work accessible for future audiences, and inspires them to become active as performers themselves. In his recipe, participants are asked to find a specific tree they are interested in, and to make it their friend.

Photo Ellen Friis

Read below and article by Mette Garfield about Johannes Zitz’s work in Denmark:

http://liveart.dk/2015/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/mette-garfield-Johannes-Zits-Dialoguing-With-Trees-i-H.pdf

About the Artist
Toronto artist Johannes Zits’ multi-disciplinary practice focuses on the many meanings engendered by the body. He draws attention to conventional image-making and how mass media images are disseminated and consumed. In working with the natural environment, Zits extends the notion of the performer to include nature itself. Considering nature as an equal ensures that it can be neither construed as a passive prop nor adored and fixed in the realm of the sublime.

Since graduating with a BFA from York University in 1984, Johannes Zits has presented work across Canada as well as internationally. In 2013, Zits performed at the 8th Encuentro, Sao Paulo, Brazil and presented a collection of his videos at Le festival international du film sur l’art, Montreal. In 2014, he presented variations on the performance “Island” at M:ST Festival, Calgary, Yuz Museum,Shanghai and at Meta 2014, Chongqing, China.

Find Johannes’ website here.