The performance takes place at night in St. Margarethen Park. The park is the backdrop for the story of St. Ursula and her 11ʻ000 virgins. Film sound, text and noises come from audio boxes distributed throughout the park.
Green and red floodlights rhythmically illuminate bushes and trees, transforming the surroundings into a bizarre movie set. 21 performers dwell in the forest: behind branches, in hollows in the ground, on trees, completely under the cover of darkness. The audience is led through the park's paths into the mysterious unknown, lured by light and sound. Suddenly, the individual performers are illuminated, only to disappear into the darkness again, they engage in "Kurzweil" and perform abstruse activities in grotesquely virginal costumes. Lights flash throughout the park, making the actions visible. The animal and nature sounds from the various audio boxes are replaced by timpani-trumpet sounds and symphonic musical fragments. The fragmentarily recited story approaches the climax and the end: the bloody martyrdom, the slaughter of the 11,000 virgins by the Huns. Silence falls. A little bell can be heard ringing from afar. It is the little church of St. Margaret calling. The slaughtered virgins, dead but happy, make their holy way up the hill to the church.
automatically translated from german
Helle Nächte
place: Margarethenpark Basel
KuratorIn: Saemann, Andrea; Zimmermann, Annina
Dokumentationstyp: Dokumentation einer Performance/Aktion / Documentation of a performance/action