Seien Sie Flugdame
(1990)

The performance "Seien Sie Flugdame" is based on spaces. In this case, these are selected parts of the city of Basel, consisting of public interior spaces, street canyons, a square, an avenue and a park. We take these places as our starting point in terms of content and form. We take this real urban structure and spin imaginary stories around this reality, which we translate into performative images. This gives these everyday public spaces a special meaning for a moment. The performance is a one-hour procession that begins in the launderette on Isteinerstrasse, passes the square at the main entrance to the Mustermesse, leads through the avenue on Riehenring, turns sharply around the bend, stabs down Drahtzugstrasse and finally enters Claramattepark. The procession pauses at five stations. There are five events, each with its own atmosphere and author, but all with a dramaturgical connection. It all begins in the launderette, where Regina Schmid performs her quarter-hour pre-produced washing piece, which she has taken from sound material from the washing processes and mixed in the studio. Crime detective Pipilotti Rist leads the fairy on horseback through the avenue, which is soundtracked by a storm. The cook Mathis, Muda; gives a speech from a window on the 5th floor, "The Manifesto of Modest Existence", because she knows all about it. She lets her 18-meter-long white apron roll down, which she finally cuts off and lets flutter downwards. In the park there is a circle 10 meters in diameter, completely covered with clothes. The eternal laundress Madörin, Fränzi, is busily collecting these clothes, bundle after bundle. She washes in soap-foaming tubs until she dies exhausted on the mountain of laundry. Gaby Streiff lays a whitish black powder labyrinth in place of the clothes. It is lit and quickly eats its way to the firewoman, who hurries off. The performance reaches its climax with drum rolls and a speech in German and Turkish. Next door in the music pavilion, the united Reines Prochaines belt out the songs that life has written.