Lovers Into Things/Things Into Lovers I, II, III, IV
Performances 2011/2012
Lovers Into Things/Things Into Lovers I
March, November 2011
LabFactory Vienna, Friedrichstadt Zentral Dresden, Flutgraben Berlin, Brut Konzerthaus Vienna
I write verbatim reports of three commercials from German language based
television. Each ad extolls a different
product, but all link the emotion of ‘love’
to the product. It is important to me not to explicitly mention a brand, company or corporation, and also to avoid the indication that I’m reproducing the imagery of a/several commercials. The main focus lies on the accurate descriptions of the images or settings.
Lovers into Things/Things into Lovers II
August 2011, Culture factory Polymer, Tallinn
The potential recognition of
a commercial in the particular country where I perform is important to me, so I decide to use a spot from the Estonian television for the LIT/TIL performance in the course of the ‚How to properly love/destroy something‘ tour in Tallinn.
I go for an international fast food chain
commercial which was produced for Estonian television. My originally German verbatim is translated into Estonian by Vilma Lang. I again learn the translated sequential analysis by heart.
For the performance, I rent a crane which elevates me and a big old television alongside the exterior of the building
up to the front window of the room on the 2nd Floor, where the event takes place.
The moderator of the evening opens the
window. I throw the TV into the room, it
shatters on the floor. I climb in and sit
down on the broken TV and start to recite the text according to the previous concept. Due to my German accent the work is perceived differently as the strong power of suggestion due to a clear language is absent. Some viewers think for instance that I freely associate
the images I describe; the idea that the work deals with advertising doesn‘t even come up.
I leave the room the way I entered it;
through the window, leaving behind the
broken TV.
Lovers into Things/Things into Lovers III
‘You Can Be My Double if I Can Be Yours’, Semperdepot January 2012
The Audience
The audience stands / sits turned towards me, I sit on the TV and recite the
verbatim (See right.) Behind the viewers,
there are two loudspeakers from which
my voice permeates at the same time,
reproducing an inner monologue.
The viewers have to decide what voice they want to pay attention to at what moment of the performance. This requires some focus, since it is obviously one voice will always be distracted by the other one.
The inner monologue consists of
many different associative levels, pointing to the inevitable impact of media/
advertising strategies on our insides.
This ‘stream of consciousness’ is therefore accompanied by the rather sober commercial verbatim, while it calls its inherent suggestive power back to consciousness.
Lovers into Things/Things into Lovers IV
Performance/Installation, Diploma, June 2012
The most romantic moments of six various adspots are merged down into one text verbatim. Due to the ambiguity to the textcollage, there can be a narrative read into it.
The performance is presented within a installative setting.
Aside the live-moments of the Performance the installation negotiates further aspects of the work.
By a contrasting juxtaposition of the TV and the theatre in a concentrated, foreclosed
atmosphere, which carries both sacred- and seminar-like characteristics due to the arrangement,
the stereotypical rituals, which are dissolved by the performance, are processed again.
