L'animoteur 5 + 6 - selfie or I am donkey
(2018)

L'animoteur 5 + 6 - selfie or I am donkey took place in two parts in Plovdiv Bulgaria: once as a live performance and intervention in an indoor and outdoor space, then as a video installation with performance objects in an exhibition.

"L'animoteur" is the title of a series of performances and image-objects. It refers to Jacques Derrida's 10-hour speech on the autobiographical animal from 1997, which was subsequently transcribed: "L'animal que donc je suis" ("The animal that I am").
The performance begins in the interior of the 'Antic Bath' with a prologue (in English). It is about Jacques Derrida's speech "L'animal que donc je suis" and about the donkey as the oldest van in the world and its appearances in (world) literature. The performance goes outside and leads through the main shopping street of Plovdiverse It is Saturday, many people from the surrounding villages are out shopping and enjoying themselves in the city. I ask passers-by: "May I make a selfie with you?". If the answer is yes, a picture is taken, which is usually the start of a conversation that I begin with the questions: "Have you ever met a donkey?" or "Have you had an experience with a donkey?" and then "Did you ever touch a donkey?" and "What do you think of donkeys?". Dimitrina Sevova accompanies me and translates into Bulgarian. Many passers-by have experience with donkeys and share it with me, because in Bulgaria the donkey is still an everyday and working animal and is widely used in the countryside.