double head herms
performance/ video
2023-2024
in collaboration with (dancing):
clara nicola blass
annika netzold
sophie karlin schauerte
diana schuemann
hannah luisa thurow
camera:
justin urbach
assistant director:
henriette hufgard
„Stories only exist in stories.“ – This sentence is noted by the screenwriter in Wim Wenders‘ pessimistic deconstruction of film work „Stand der Dinge“ (1982) and self-referentially emphasizes the autopoietic character of the narrative form. In doing so, the protagonist refers to a story-like organization of reality that produces history, which appears to stand in opposition to a discrete and material archaeological gaze. A gaze in which no attempts are made to fill the gaps between the data with empathetic imagination. However, the examination of the plaster sculptures reveals a continuous activity of reproduction in which narratives and images are repeated while also being variated. In the process, we become aware that it is not the sculptures themselves that become narrators of the ever-changing stories of their seemingly unchanging exteriors.
The video and performance project ‚double head herms‘ is initiated by Dominik Bais as a research project in collaboration with Clara Nicola Blass, Annika Netzold, Sophie Karlin Schauerte, Diana Schuemann, Hannah Luisa Thurow. The examination is based on a two-week engagement in which historical artifacts, tools and narratives of the cast collection are critically questioned with the help of the participants‘ own bodies. The result is a collectively developed choreography that foregrounds questions about the production and reproduction of images and stories, and thus of his(her)story.
