ROHTKO – Holland Festival

One of the biggest scandals in the art world lies at the heart of Lukasz Twarkowski's performance ROHTKO (Twarkowski also appeared at the 2023 Holland Festival with Respublika). The production is brought to life by Dailes Theatre (Latvia) in collaboration with Twarkowski's close creative team and actors from Latvia, Poland and China.

In 2004, a couple bought painting by Mark Rothko for $8.3 million. Years later, it turns out to be not by Rothko himself, but by a Chinese maths teacher from Queens who also forged works by Jackson Pollock. Can a fake painting evoke real feelings? What is real art and what is it worth? In just under four hours of steaming beats and two huge video screens, the creators of ROHTKO go in search of answers, assisted by philosopher Byung-Chul Han's book Shanzai on the value of real and fake.

In less than four hours full of sizzling beats, Twarkowski and his cast of extraordinary actors search for answers, inspired by philosopher Byung-Chul Han’s book Shanzai, in which 'shanzhai' refers to a unique blend of imitation, innovation, and affordable, locally adapted versions of popular products in Chinese culture.

'I believe that theatre is the kind of art that has the possibility of finding a way of communication completely beyond language.'

– Łukasz Twarkowski

Legendary New York art gallery Knoedler closed in 2011 after one of the art world's greatest scandals. Over the course of fifteen years, it had sold over 30 paintings assumed to be by the likes of Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell, which later turned out to be forgeries.

Han’s book details the philosophy of 'shanzai' - loosely translated as fake - where an original product is not seen as fixed, but rather as seeking to transform over time. While the west often simply dismisses this concept as piracy, in the Chinese context it entails a creative and constant reinterpretation of the original idea.

ROHTKO is set in the grey area between fact and fiction, real and fake, and explores shanzai in a deeper way. The piece goes beyond philosophical reflection; through parallel storylines, dynamic set changes and intense music, Twarkowski creates a cinematic experience that fully engages the audience.

The piece begins in the 1960s, shedding light on the final years of Rothko’s life, and ends up at modern forms of digital and crypto art. Live footage is shown on two large screens, filmed by camera operators moving among the actors, while videos serve as a trompe-l’œil.

The set – a recreation of Mr. Chow’s restaurant, the home base of the 1980s New York art elite – serves as a catalyst. The Chinese restaurant plays another role as well: the owners, silent witnesses to the story, hail from a cultural tradition that, indeed, has different ideas about originals and copies.

The intentional misspelling in the title, ROHTKO, is a self-aware nod to the booming trade in famous name-brand knockoffs, like 'Adibas' or 'Dolce Banana'. This practice of 'shanzhai' spread throughout China and was applied to thousands of products.

Is ROHTKO about the myth of authenticity? Does it aim to find the meaning of art? Or is it exploring the aesthetics of Rothko’s paintings? The answer to all these questions is: yes. If its origins prove false, does this also invalidate the feelings the work inspires? If the value of the painting decreases, what does this say about the system that determines this value?

ROHTKO was first premiered in 2022 at Dailes Theatre, Riga, Latvia.

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director Łukasz Twarkowski text Anka Herbut dramaturgy Anka Herbut stage design Fabien Lédé costume design Svenja Gassen choreography Paweł Sakowicz music Lubomir Grzelak video design Jakub Lech lighting design Eugenijus Sabaliauskas cast Juris Bartkevičs, Kaspars Dumburs, Ērika Eglija-Grāvele, Yan Huang, Andrzej Jakubczyk, Rēzija Kalniņa, Katarzyna Osipuk, Artūrs Skrastiņš, Mārtiņš Upenieks, Toms Veličko, Xiaochen Wang, Vita Vārpiņa production Dailes Theatre coproduction JK Opole Theatre, Adam Mickiewicz Institute with the support of Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland

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