keep moving monuments
2023
performance at abguss-sammlung antiker plastik berlin
in collaboration with: clara nicola blass, annika netzold, sophie karlin schauerte, diana schuemann, hannah luisa thurow
„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 performance project keep moving monuments is initiated by dominik bais and funded by stiftung kunstfonds 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.
