Anna II — September Performance

* from the script *

background of the performance series «Anna ...»

This performance is the second 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 irritating situation is created. With each new version I expand the material, whereby the carpet is also in the performance «Anna II» the connection to my mother 'Anna' and the pivot of this performance.

process of the performance

I push my performance paraphernalia into the room on a trolley, unload it, put on my sport climbing harness and fishing boots and shoulder the fish bren. I tie an oriental rug to one end of the climbing rope. I throw the other end of the rope over a beam high up below the ceiling. Holding it in my hands, I jump up and let myself fall. I fall with my whole body weight to the ground into the rope and pull the oriental rug up jerkily all the way under the beam. I ask two people to keep the rope under tension so that I can attach it to my climbing harness. I put my body in an inclined position. This way I can keep the rope taut, so I become the counterweight of the carpet, which now has to stay there pulled up under the ceiling for the time being.

I walk backwards through the entrance door of the Kunstraum Walcheturm into the night darkness of the Zeughaushof, illuminated by a street lamp. I always exploit the radius that the taut rope allows me; I move in circles and climb onto a small platform. From there I call out ANNA several times in different directions into the night. ANNA is my mother's name and Anna comes from the Hebrew first name Hannah, is also associated with the Celtic goddess Anu, occurs in Roman mythology and is the name of Mary's mother according to Catholic and Orthodox tradition. The performance calls out to all Annas through the ages and is also a tribute to the women who walk the night here in the Quarter. From the dimly lit darkness of the Zeughaushof and Kanonengasse, someone calls back ISABELLE. Then I push and pull my way back inside. Always I retighten the rope to keep the carpet in the air, which takes strength. I cross the spot where I started, move under the carpet in the opposite direction into the large exhibition space. I pull the rope in a large circle around four beam columns which divide the space. Whenever the carpet is out of my field of vision, I ask the spectators, «Is the carpet still hanging?», which they confirm without exception. The rope is very long, it allows me to disappear behind an exhibition wall. Now the rope is extremely taut. As I suddenly want to let go of it, I warn the audience to keep their distance. I let it go - with a dull bang the carpet falls to the floor out of our sight. The audience applauds; they assume the performance is over.

«The performance is not over yet!», I shout and run away into a side room. I return on my bicycle and ride a large arc. When I reach the carpet, I ask the audience to help me lift the carpet onto the rack of my bike. Once again I make a turn with my bicycle, this time with the rug. Because of the width of the carpet, chairs tip over and spectators have to move out of the way. In the middle of the large exhibition space, I let the bicycle with the carpet slide to the floor.

Now I announce a calmer and less dangerous part: Carelessly I push and shift my feet in the too big fishing boots. The boots slip on the floor, I slip half out of them and almost lose them. The high boot shafts change the contour of my legs, lengthen them. Boots and legs take on a life of their own, moving in opposite directions, lurching and rolling. Then I put the boots back on 'properly'. I take stones, a nut, a lump of ore and apples from the fish bren. I show each item to the audience, naming the things shown or asking, «What is this?» I answer in the affirmative or say something else very loudly in English or German: the stones become «heart», as they all actually have a heart shape, the screw nut becomes «mother» (as it has in German the same name 'Mutter'), the apple becomes «apple», the lump of ore becomes «cell», the chocolate becomes «chocolate», an elongated stone becomes «foot» and yet another, very flat one becomes «shoulder blade», another one «tongue». I slide the apples one by one under my white T-shirt onto my chest, shoulders and belly button. I call out 'music', the song «I am in the Mood of Love» by John Lee Hooker is played. I move from my hips and try to keep the apples in place, but they slip and fall to the floor; I pick them up again and place them under the T-shirt again, adjust them and continue dancing, then the apples fall again ...

script