I Trienal de Luanda 2007

Video (excerpt: 1:09 of 6:34);
Single channel video, 6'34'' loop, silence, colour. Life-size floor projection. Vienna, Austria


Produced for I Trienal de Luanda, arte, cultura, política e história contemporânea, Luanda, Angola

A performer lies under a taut elastic fabric, which is installed just slightly above the floor. The camera is fixed upright over the surface. During the performance the (fabric’s) border is explored and touched through the performer’s body. This attempts to break through the bor-
der, and the repetitive failure of it. The move-
ments are slow, uncertain, seeking, feeling, groping, nervous, hectic or even panicky, so the performer becomes an object, becomes a figure pointing out thoughts, and in this way, sculp-
ture becomes thought. An extensive sculpture arises demonstrating an experience that lies beyond the material.

The body morphs out of the surface, rears up and disappears again. The moment before the body disappears reminds of the forming of water drops, as the surface, similar to a liquid, behaves as a taut elastic foil. This is called sur-
face tension. According to the movements of
the performer’s body, the fabric becomes taut, expands, contracts, creates folds or shadows.
In this way the physical and artificial, torment-
ed and poetic moments alternate.

None of us are able to slip out of our skins. Regardless of where and under which condi-
tions we live, or in what we believe, we are all thrown into existence with our hopes, fears
and doubts without being able to escape
this circle.

Acknowledgements
Caroline Decker
Lothar Heinrich