Einhämmern
(2013)

Like many of the artist’s works, the video “Hammering in” is related to her place of origin, in a rural Catholic village in Central Switzerland. Franziska Bieri appears as a performer. In an austere farmhouse parlour, she cuts off a slice of bread and spreads it with butter - without using a plate, directly onto the wooden table. She then nails the slice to the table with seven large nails and strong blows. The last scene shows the artist blowing dust up from the tabletop and then stepping out of the picture. Dust or dirt has probably been collecting for years. Is the parlour still inhabited? Or has the artist returned especially for this gesture?

A buttered slice of bread used to be the staple meal of poor farmers. The view from the window looks out onto to a hilly landscape with two more farmhouses in the distance. It must be a rather lonely area where the video performance is taking place. The nailing onto the wood invokes the story of Jesus’ suffering and other magic nailing rituals. Or is it a personal discord? Franziska Bieri writes about this on her website: “What has been repeated over the years is what leaves its mark. It sticks as if it had been hammered in. It sticks even when we see that it's out of date and has accumulated dust.”

Andrea Domesle, translated by Christopher Haley Simpson