Residencies

• 04.09 > 16.09.2023
• 19.06 > 24.06.2023
• 15.05 > 27.05.2023

The audio­vi­su­al per­for­man­ce Measuring Narrative With Water uses lan­gu­a­ge as a mea­su­ring tool: how clo­se­ly does it appro­ach what we want to tell?

In the 1920s, Knud Heckscher, Sirah Foighel Brutmann’s gre­at-grand­fa­ther, descri­bes his expe­rien­ces whi­le tra­vel­ling by water from Copenhagen to Bangkok, and back. The wit­ty descrip­ti­ons of his wan­de­rings in Heckscher’s let­ters reve­al the colo­ni­al whi­te man’s fear of the unknown. At the same time, he feels thre­a­ten­ed by an impor­ted anti-Semitism. Foighel Brutmann per­forms excerpts from the let­ters in dif­fe­rent lan­gu­a­ges, retel­lings and accents.

With elec­tro­nic effects and acous­tic sounds, brought live by Eitan Efrat, the makers emp­ha­si­se the phy­si­ca­li­ty of the dif­fe­rent lan­gu­a­ges used by Foighel Brutmann. On a screen, we see text, pro­jec­ti­ons of black-and-whi­te pho­to­graphs Heckscher took in Bangkok, and colour­ful video foot­a­ge of watery phe­no­me­na. What fluids pass through us and affect us? To what extent are we res­pon­si­ble for the his­to­ries we inherit?

Measuring Narrative With Water tou­ches on core the­mes in the prac­ti­ce of artis­tic duo Foighel Brutmann and Efrat. They are inte­rested in the mate­ri­a­li­ty, spa­ti­a­li­ty and dura­ti­on of ima­ges, the rela­ti­ons­hips bet­ween a vie­wer and his­to­ry, and the tem­po­ra­li­ty of nar­ra­ti­ves and memory.