"If the colors of a Rothko painting have faded, isn't that far from the effect the artist intended? Wouldn't a replica that looks exactly like the original be closer to the truth?"
Polish director Lukasz Twarkowski posed these questions during a press conference for the play 'Rothko' held at the LG Arts Center in Seoul on November 11. The play, which will have its domestic premiere from November 13 to 15, explores the boundaries between authenticity and forgery, original and copy.
Twarkowski blends fact and fiction in the production, inspired by the 2004 incident in which a Mark Rothko painting sold for approximately $8.3 million was later revealed to be a forgery created by an unknown Chinese artist seven years later. This narrative is further enriched by insights from German philosopher Byung-Chul Han's book Shanzhai.
The term 'Shanzhai' originally referred to a bandit’s lair but has come to describe China's culture of imitation. Han contrasts the Western emphasis on fixed originals with Eastern thought, which suggests that if everything is in a constant state of change, an immutable original cannot exist. Twarkowski reinterprets the forgery incident through this lens.
He referenced Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain,' noting that a common urinal gains historical significance simply because it is recognized as art. He emphasized that the value of a work is determined by the artist's name, the idea behind it, and the societal consensus that accepts it as art.
The discussion extends to NFTs, where anyone can replicate digital images, yet certain assets can be valued at millions based on ownership and transaction history recorded on the blockchain. He stated, "What matters is the idea contained within, even if there is no physical object. A copy can hold greater value than the original."
This paradox of original versus copy is also reflected on stage. Actors perform in a massive set reminiscent of a film set, while live camera footage is projected onto a large screen in real-time. Audiences will simultaneously witness the actors in motion and the reconfigured images created by the camera.
Twarkowski remarked, "The representation on the screen may feel more real than the actors performing live on stage. We will see how cinematic fiction interacts with actual performance."
This theme resonates with the current challenges posed by the rise of artificial intelligence, which complicates the control of misinformation. He noted, "As it becomes harder to find reliable information, people are becoming more obsessed with the truth."
He emphasized that physical reality may not be as significant as it seems. "Throughout human history, three elements have driven people: money, religion, and tradition. Humans have relied on virtual systems long before the advent of the internet."
Meanwhile, 'Rothko,' which premiered at the Dailes Theatre in Latvia in 2022, won five awards at the Latvian Theatre Awards, including Best Play and Best Director. In 2024, it received the Best Foreign Performance Award at the Premio Ubu in Italy. The performance lasts approximately 3 hours and 55 minutes.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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