The Performances
Thursday
07.04.2022
10:00 am
Gewicht eines Atemzugs (Weight of a Breath)
Across cultures, the dove is a symbol of peace and innocence. These days, world peace needs to “lose a few feathers.” Using nothing but his breath, Simon Pfeffel moves the small, symbolic object of a dove feather across the floor of the Trinkhalle in Baden-Baden. This grand venue in the spa town has always attracted visitors from all over the world who come in search of healing. The pure white of the feather is gradually drawn through the dirt on the floor. In times of crisis, when a president with puffed-up cheeks seriously threatens world peace, the value of the symbolic representation of peace is called into question.
Text: Holle Nann, Camera: Anette C. Halm
Simon Pfeffel
Thursday
02.06.2022
04:00 pm
Eskapismus (Escapism)
This year, Heidi Klum’s model-casting show “Germany’s Next Topmodel” had its best ratings in 13 years.
But there are other, more pressing problems facing Germany, Europe, and the world right now. Nevertheless, narcissistic self-obsession – the essentially meaningless concern for outward appearances – still seems to be a relevant issue for young people. It’s a way to temporarily repress the unresolved, urgent problems of the world and the brutal realities we must face – through small escapes, an immersion in the glossy surfaces of the screens in our homes. In the city of the rich and beautiful, Sissi-Madelaine Schöllhuber’s performance questions the core values of society.
Text: Holle Nann, Camera: Anette C. Halm
Sissi-Madelaine Schöllhuber
Friday
03.06.2022
10:00 am
Liebesfrühling (Spring of Love)
Heaven and hell on earth – how close these opposites are.
In the children’s game of the same name, the player skips over hell to hop happily toward heaven. The game is a metaphor for the life of Clara Schumann, who married her father’s pupil Robert Schumann at the age of 21, against her father’s wishes. At first, marriage to the composer was heaven on earth for the pianist, but it didn’t last long. Everyday life with the ailing Robert Schumann and their seven children soon caught up with the couple. After Robert’s death, Clara settled in Baden-Baden, which was already considered a cultural center at the time.
This performance is a tribute to a gifted artist.
Text: Holle Nann, Performer: Sissi-Madelaine Schöllhuber, Speaker: Barbara Stoll, Piano: Götz Payer, Camera: Anette C. Halm
Anette C. Halm
Saturday
04.06.2022
12:00 pm
Salzsäule (Pillar of Salt)
As the natural protective covering of the human body, the skin plays an important role in our well-being. At the same time, it is a key component and projection surface for our self-image – as a place to wear jewelry and make-up, for example. But what would happen if this protective shell were suddenly to become rigid, constricting, and incapacitating?
In Greek mythology, the Gorgons are terrifying three-winged figures that turn anyone who looks at them to stone. Lot’s wife was also turned into a pillar of salt in a moment of disobedience. Andrea Isa’s performance on the Römerplatz in Baden-Baden explores the ambivalence of protection, separation, and constriction of the human body in speechless, immobilized horror.
Text: Holle Nann, Camera: Anette C. Halm
Andrea Isa
Saturday
04.06.2022
05:00 pm
HUMAN WHEEL
Five people form a wheel. No one wants to be the fifth wheel. In the wheel created by artist Marie Lienhard, the number five is essential. The wheel itself has been around for about 3,500 years, but it can evidently be reinvented over and over again. Hand in hand, five people form the spokes with their bodies and move around an imaginary hub whose center is under the soles of their feet. The wheel thus turns like a perpetual motion machine, but doesn’t get off the ground – a modern-day Sisyphean task when today everything is supposed to run like clockwork.
Text: Holle Nann, Camera: Anette C. Halm
Marie Lienhard
The project was supported by a grant from the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg.