Constance DeJong

The work of U.S.-American artist, prose writer, and performer Constance DeJong is the focus of an exhibition in the Kunstverein’s Archive Space. A selection of printed matter from DeJong’s personal archive is on display alongside video recordings of her multimedia spoken-word performances, spanning almost fifty years of her influential practice at the intersections of language, text, and image. For decades, DeJong has been making a case for what language (written, spoken, recited) is capable of; how it can be employed to, as she says, structure the “movement of thoughts” rather than merely serve as a vehicle for delivering the conventions of prose. Reading the work of DeJong is also always listening to her—an experience of the full sensuality of her thinking. In Munich, this is conveyed through the presentation of five recordings of spoken-word performances from 1978 to 2013, which are on view together with archival material related to central aspects of DeJong’s versatile career. The presentation is accompanied by a newly conceived performance by DeJong, entitled "It’s Always Night" (2023/24), which takes place on Sunday, May 5 at 4pm. As “the night is the street that I walk on,”[1] the piece comprises a live reading of night-themed texts, coupled with durational videos and an associative collection of images. Through such audio-visual juxtapositions or alliances, DeJong’s work occupies a liminal space between writing and performance, with her pieces usually being tinged by confessional humor and critique. "It’s Always Night" is presented in collaboration with Theater Neumarkt, Zurich, Kunsthalle Winterthur, IMAI – Inter Media Art Institute, Düsseldorf, and Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf. [1] From a conversation with Constance DeJong on March 18, 2024.