Tell me something I don’t know

Mysterious Barricades #6
Berlin, Germany
Orangerie Performance Festival
Invited by Steffi Weismann and Oliver Möst
Duration: 23 minutes
Photographs by Monika Deimling

Context:

During the summer, the orange trees at Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin are moved outdoors, leaving the ‘Kleine Orangerie’ (Small Orangery)—their winter refuge—empty. This spacious hall, with its windowed façade on one side and a high white wall on the other, is not only ideal for housing orange trees but also serves as a stunning venue for performances.

For the third time, artists and curators Steffi Weismann and Oliver Möst seized the opportunity to transform this unique space into the setting for a performance festival, showcasing international artists and their diverse approaches to performance art.

The combination of the evocative venue, the excellent support from the organisers, and the engaged audience created an inspiring atmosphere, making it a joy to present the sixth performance in the “MYSTERIOUS BARRICADES” cycle.

Description of actions:
A collage of performance images and sounds is created by executing the following actions with selected material.

• Walking around the action field, the head wrapped in large red cardboard letters, holding two blue shoes by their laces, one in each hand, while moving my arms up and down. [This is the scene as the audience enters the space.]
• Pulling a white grid bed on wheels while walking around a table covered with a white tablecloth. [Inside the bed is a serving plate filled with black earth, which falls out as the bed rolls over the uneven floor, forming a black circular shape around the table.]
• Sitting on the table and slowly removing the red letters from my head.
• Painting two white stripes on my face, from the forehead over the eyes to the chin.
• Waggling a stack of porcelain plates. [The loud ceramic sound of the plates fills the space.]
• Arranging the plates on the tablecloth and outlining one with a blue pen.
• Sitting at the table and pouring water from one small pot into another. [The gentle sound of flowing water is audible.]
• Rubbing a handful of earth in circles on my belly while looking at the seated audience.
• Placing the four blue shoes on the wheels of the grid bed and tying the laces.
• Sitting at the table and slowly lifting it. [The plates begin to slip and eventually crash to the floor.]
• Marking a cross with a red pen over the blue outline of the plate on the tablecloth.
• Ringing a small silver bell and dipping it in and out of a bowl filled with water. [The sound of the bell shifts each time it meets the water.]
• Hanging the small bed, now adorned with the blue shoes, on a guiding cross and moving it along the black circular shape of the earth. [The movement of the bed and shoes gives the impression of it walking.]
• Standing on the table and throwing hundreds of feathers into the air while turning in circles. [The feathers drift gently onto the table and floor.]
• Gathering all the red cardboard letters and throwing them as high as possible into the air. [I am leaving the space while the cardboard letters thud on the floor.]