Phönix aus der Asche

Phönix aus der Asche

Duration:

25 min.
Kunstraum B / Kiel, Germany, 2007

Photographer:

Thorbjoern Jacobsen

Coperation performance-installation of Yingmei Duan and Alexandra Gneissl from the exhibition “DIE KINDER SCHWIMMEN. DIEKINDER BRATEN”

There are two performers lying on a ground, fully covered by 15 kg ashes. One can recognize some objects placed on the floor. A very poetic, endless atmosphere arises. Tabula Rasa. At the beginning of the performance, people enter the room and leave their footprints on the dusty surface. After a period of silence a body begins to rise from the ashes. The performer Yingmei Duan is liberated from the dust and reaches for the objects. She starts giving them to the bystanders. These are meaningful objects, memories of friendships.

Meanwhile, the second body begins to move. The performer Alexandra Gneissl pushes the ashes from the outer corners into the middle of the room. The things that get crossed when she pushes them are also passed on the audience. Yingmei Duan follows this action by also putting the ashes into the middle of the room. The floor gets exposed and a small pile of towers is gradually built. The two performers, sitting on their knees, meet in front of this construction. After a moment of silence they begin playing a children’s gossip game. They clap their hands simultaneously and sing a chinese children’s song “Looking for friendship”. One listens to the melancholic melody for a while and then the light goes off. The two performers leave the room, and the visitors remain standing still…

找朋友

找找找,找朋友 找到一个好朋友

敬个礼,握握手 你是我的好朋友

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