Anna I — Was beschäftigt dich sonst noch?

background of the performance series «Anna ...»

For the performance on the question «What else is keeping you engaged?» I brought an oriental rug and climbing utensils. The 'domestic' carpet, which represents an abstract garden, is the connection to my mother Anna, it was her carpet that she gave to me. It is the fulcrum of this performance.
This performance is the first in a series in which I approach the cosmos and the character of my mother Anna. It is also the transformation of a forgotten past, which I bring into the present time, and with which a new, challenging and possibly also irritating situation is created.

process of the performance

20 minutes before the audience arrives, I hang the carpet on one end of my climbing rope over the banister leading to the art space «Kasko». When the audience arrives, the first thing they see is the dangling carpet. When they walk along the rope, they find me inside at the other end of the rope in a climbing harness as a counterweight to the carpet, in an inclined position with my feet on the floor. I remain like this until my feet slip away (from under me), then I stay on the floor for a while, keeping the rope on which the carpet is hanging as taut as possible. Later I move, along the taut rope, out onto the stairs to the carpet. Still I am the counterweight of the carpet, holding it in place. I climb up and down the stairs, stopping here and there and calling ANNA in different directions. Afterwards I pull the carpet up. On the way back into the room I shoulder it and finally drop it on the floor. Again and again I call ANNA. In the climbing shoes I move like a ballet dancer, holding positions on my toes, in otherwise precarious balance and releasing myself from them again to move into new unknown positions. Always struggling for balance, I stretch my range of movement while trying to keep the rope as taut as possible. Finally I detach the carpet from the rope, unroll it completely and stand barefoot on it. With fine, throaty sounds I intonate the song «I am flying» by Rod Stewart and then sing louder, groaning, yodelling. The arms row 'waving' from the middle of the body. While a Cessna plane taking off from YouTube is playing on my laptop, I crawl under the carpet and remain covered by it - until the Cessna flies over the clouds on the screen.

script