Oldal 167 [167]
TRANSFORMATION RITUALS
IN THE PERFORMANCES OF JUDIT KELE
——~<~o»—___
KARINA KOPPANY
Judit Kele is a Hungarian artist who decided to move to France in the 1980s.
Unable to do so without a visa, she posted an advertisement in a French news¬
paper, Libération, in which she offered her hand to any French man, in return
for a visa. Troubles arose not only because she was already married in her
home country, but also because of the suspicion her attempt raised in immi¬
gration offices. For Kele it was not just a marriage, rather a performance: she
had men participating in an auction, where she was bidden for. As Arnold van
Gennep’s “The Rites of Passage” suggests, this sort of auction and marriage can
be considered as a transitional rite. In my paper, I am going to talk about her
marriage and how living as a piece of art resulted in identity disorders. This
performance was the second sequence of the series “Iam a Work of Art”, which
began in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest in 1979.
“Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh."
Mt 19:6.
It is 1980 when Judit Kele, a Hungarian artist, realises that she cannot remain
in Hungary. Frustrated with the status of women in Post-Cold War Eastern¬
Europe, she wants to move abroad and will do all it takes to reach her goal. She
decides to seek a better life in France. Moving to France,” however, proved even
harder than she had expected, as in the 1980s it was not as straightforward
a move to make as it is nowadays, to settle in another European country as a
foreigner. She also needed something else: a French husband! In this chapter,
I will therefore elaborate on the circumstances of her unconventional wedding.
Judit Kele started her performance series 1 am a Work of Art in 1979. For
the first sequence she sat in the space of a loaned out El Greco painting at the
Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest as an installation. She also traveled abroad
with several artworks and performances. In Paris, at Studio Théatre d’en Face,
1 The Holy Bible, Mt 19,6. https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/19?lang=eng
Beata Hock: Moving across Europe: Three Case Studies on Sex-Appeal, in Katarzyna Kos¬
mala (ed.): Sexing the Border: Gender, Art and New Media in Central and Eastern Europe,
Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014, 33.