Collective performance piece of furniture:
Loose bedsprings are placed in the room. One person is gently placed on the bedsprings. Other (broken) pieces of furniture are brought in: three wooden boards between two people form a bookcase. One person places a tabletop on their back. The person forms the table legs, together with the table top it is a whole table. Chairs appear, half person, half chair. The sofa consists of two people biting into a cushion, hands and feet on the floor. The performance refers to the passage of time in an apartment: people move in and out, furniture is moved, rearranged, the space is adapted to the respective needs.
Text by Dr. Barbara Neidhart:
"LABOR addresses the objectification of the human body quite directly and straightforwardly, yet very subtly. Various artists use fragments of furniture to create complete furnishings for different rooms. The artist places his body in the place of the missing parts of a piece of furniture and thus reconstructs the external appearance and function of the piece of furniture into a new whole. The audience is in the picture due to its prior knowledge of the type and function of the piece of furniture and even of the room in which it stands. In this way, living rooms, bedrooms and offices are created before the viewer's eyes in a calm, relaxed atmosphere. The body, however, is trapped in its new function as part of a piece of furniture. The artist is no longer free to decide on the movements and position of his limbs, he is trapped in the piece of furniture, both physically and mentally, because only by using his willpower and concentrating all his mental powers can he assume the sometimes difficult positions without toppling over or breaking the illusion in any other way."
automatically translated from german
Additional
Dauer der Performance: 20 Min.
Bisherige Aufführungen
16.10.2006 „Temps Elastique“ Ausstellungsraum Klingental Basel
12.10.2006 „Sicht aufs Original“ Kunstkredit Basel, Kunsthaus Baselland Muttenz 05.05.2006 Labor 21 „Destillat I“ Kaskadenkondensator Basel