Performance by Elana Katz | sound design by Exildiscount
“With all due respect”; phrase of respect:
“used as a polite formula preceding, and intended to mitigate the effect of, an expression of disagreement or criticism.”[1]
The Oxford dictionary’s 2008 edition compiled an inventory of the foremost irritating phrases in the English language. The phrase with all due respect was listed as the fifth most irritating term in the English language, presumably as a result of its frequent use to permit an expression of disrespect to be cloaked in courtesy. As such, it is a polite term of speech in a sentence that contains tension, and often a distinct conflict within itself.
As does this performance. In <With All Due Respect> Katz works with images of elegance and tradition as demonstrations of (and connotations to) respect and elitism in social order.
Yet what happens when respect turns to violence? What is the opposite of respect – degradation? This performance aims to pose these questions.
As elegance gradually transitions toward violence, the artist encloses herself within a trap of her own making.
During this series of events, an intricate ongoing sound hums— threatening and also calming. Somewhat normal, somewhat altered. It aims to create an uncertainty of where “normality”, as opposed to an altered state, stands: considering this dream-like condition as a search for reality.
[1] Oxford Languages, Oxford University Press, © 2022.
Photos: Dario Srbić