Vergiss den Kummer im süssen Schlummer
(Forget sorrow in sweet slumber) Mysterious Barricades #1
Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, 2023
Invited by Stanislaus Müller-Härlin, Gmünder Kunstverein
Duration: 23 minutes
Photographs by Monika Deimling


Context:
The performance was presented during the opening of my solo exhibition “Rot ist das Girren deines grünen Vogels” at the Gmünder Kunstverein. It marked the beginning of the “Mysterious Barricades” performance cycle and was staged in front of the historic Kornhaus in Schwäbisch Gmünd. A string quartet—featuring Stanislaus Müller-Härlin (violin), Katrin Sabath-Härlin (violin), Margot Neuffer (viola), and Hieronymus Butz (violoncello)—was positioned among the audience and performed François Couperin’s 1717 composition “Les Barricades Mystérieuses” towards the end of the piece. This iconic musical work is the foundation for Deimling’s new performance cycle.

















Description of actions:
A collage of performance images and sounds is created by executing the following actions with selected material.
- Entering the action field, presenting a hand covered with white paint to the audience.
- Moving the painted hand slowly over the head, face, neck, and throat.
- Removing a small silver bell from a puppet bed filled with black grave earth; shaking the bell while walking to a bowl of water.
- Moving the bell in and out of the water bowl. [The sound of the bell changes with each contact with the water.]
- Rattling a pitchfork with blue and yellow letters attached until the letters fall to the ground.
- Using a silver soup spoon to transfer black earth from the puppet bed into seven white porcelain plates; throwing the plates onto the ground. [The plates shatter, leaving black and white traces.]
- Drawing seven lines on a white shirt with charcoal.
- Placing a metal tube on the head and standing still. [Orange smoke emerges from the tube.]
- Guiding a book attached to a small cross across the action field; setting the book on fire after some time.
- Collecting yellow letters and tying them together to form a crown; placing the crown on the head and raising both arms.
- Raising a blue chair on a flagpole.
- Raising a second blue chair on a separate flagpole. [At this moment, the string quartet plays “Les Barricades Mystérieuses” by François Couperin.]
- Holding a white cloth embroidered with blue text and ornaments in front of the face while walking slowly past the seated audience. [The embroidered text reads: “Vergiss den Kummer im süssen Schlummer (Forget sorrow in sweet slumber).”]
- Draping the cloth over the bed and placing the crown on the covered bed.


Video documentation of the performance
12:40 minutes
Camera & editing by Hubert Minsch
2024