Live Performance

Eine gemeinsame Kreation des Marina Abramovic Institute und des Royal Theatre Carré Amsterdam, No Intermission ist ein 7-tägiges Performance-Projekt, das aus 10 neu in Auftrag gegebenen partizipativen Performances und einer neuen Version der Abramovic-Methode besteht, geleitet von Marina Abramovic. In No Intermission werden die Grenzen zwischen Performer und Publikum verwischt, und das gesamte Theater wird als kollektives performatives Experiment funktionieren. Alle Räume des Carré werden durch die Performance aktiviert, von der zentralen Bühne, dem Untergeschoss, dem Foyer, den Korridoren und den Cafés. Das Publikum wird eingeladen, sich frei sich frei durch den Raum zu bewegen und die Werke zu erleben.

Teilnehmende Künstler: Carla Adra, Abel Azcona, Dante Buu, Yingmei Duan, Mauricio Ianês, Miles Greenberg, Maria Stamenković Herranz, Anthony Huseyin, Yiannis Pappas, Ana Prvački

Kuratorisches Team: Paula Garcia (Leitende Kuratorin), Marina Abramovic, Thanos Argyropoulos, Serge Le Borgne, Billy Zhao

— MAI

„Yingmei in Wonderland “ war Teil des Performanceprojekts „No Intermission“, das vom 24. bis 30. Oktober 2022 im Königlichen Carré Theater in Amsterdam stattfand. Sowohl „Interaktion“ als auch „Zusammenarbeit“ sind seit 2005 sehr wichtige Themen in Yingmei Duans Performancekunst. Während ihrer Zeit im Carré Theater präsentiert Yingmei eine Reihe von Performances. Ihre Performances konzentrieren sich hauptsächlich auf die „Interaktion“ mit dem Publikum, mit Künstlern, Theaterleuten und dem Raum. Die Menschen können verschiedene Charaktere von Yingmei erleben.

Zurückkehrend zu den Freuden ihrer Kindheit, spielt Yingmei „Sandbag“ Spiele mit dem Publikum.

In „Fountain“ bewegt sich eine nackte Yingmei langsam durch den Raum und hält eine Vase, aus der Geräusche kommen.

Yingmei entführt die Fantasie und Vorstellungskraft des Publikums auf ihre abenteuerliche Reise durch das Leben in „Flying Luggage“.

In „Clown“ erscheint Yingmei und macht unangenehme Geräusche für das Publikum.

In „Globe“ erscheint eine verrückte Yingmei mit unordentlichem Make-up und spielt mit einem kleinen Globus.

In „Happy Yingmei“ gibt Yingmei den Menschen verschiedene „Wünsche“ weiter, die alle mit Liebe, Hilfe und Verständnis zu tun haben.

Yingmei spricht mit dem Publikum über ihr glückliches Leben in „Ich bin einer der glücklichsten Menschen der Welt“.

— Billy Zhao

Diary on 24th October 2022

During the project, I decided the direction of my daily performances according to the situation, like how on the first day, I performed “Clown”. There was an important reason for this choice. 

This was so I could get to know more about the theatre, the other artist’s performances, and the audience. The whole plan of my performances is to travel through the theatre, interacting with the work of other artists, the audiences and the different spaces. Through “Clown”, I would get a feeling for the theatre space and the people involved, as well as their initial reactions.

Diary on 25th October 2022

I changed to a nude performance – The Fountain. Because I was naked, the audience could quickly tell that I was one of the performers. I walked gently holding a vase over my shoulder. I slowly approached one of the audience members in the scene and quietly moved the mouth of the vase to his ear and let him listen for a while, then moved to the next audience member’s ear so they could listen, and so on.

A girl’s very quiet, melancholic singing voice came out of the vase, bringing people into a quiet, calm and melancholic world, contrasting with the various noisy sounds in the scene. Different audience members reacted differently; some listened with closed eyes, some smiled, some looked surprised, but all of them were able to immerse themselves in the performance and experience it seriously. Although each interaction was short, I could tell from people’s expressions and looks that they enjoyed my work…

Diary on 27th October 2022 

……

Early in the day, volunteer Tobias and I performed at the entrance of the main stage leading to the promenade. We sat on a small bench and smiled as we watched visitors walking out.

Usually, theatres have very clear boundaries between the stage area and the seating area. But for this event, the organisers broke that rule and removed the zoning. So when the audience walked out from the main stage and found themselves on our small “stage” again, they were surprised and delighted by the continuing performance, smiling back at us. Many people whispered “Happy Birthday” to me as they passed by, as Marina had told everyone in advance that it was my birthday. I was very surprised because it was the first time that so many people had given me birthday greetings. Then I enacted another performance piece. I was lying naked on the floor, facing the ground, with a screen on my back showing a video of the famous performance work

“To Add One Meter to an Anonymous Mountain” (1995), created by the East Village Artists in Beijing. Many people had seen photographs of this work, but few had watched the video. I kept moving to perform it in different areas, such as the bar, the stage, the corridor, etc., staying in each place for about 10 to 30 minutes.

Diary on 29th October 2022 

I decided to challenge myself again and try the performance “Research”. As a researcher holding a magnifying glass, I travelled through different spaces like stop-motion animation, interacting with the audience, other performance artists and their works.The magnifying glass not only magnifies the size of general things around me but also the subtle expressions and emotions of the audience in this noisy and dim theatre. Through the lens of the magnifying glass, it was as if I saw their inner world. At the same time, the audience could also see me clearly through the magnifying glass. In this way, I had a mysterious, marvellous and unique interactive experience with each person.