INTERNAL ROOM

ABOUT SINGLE PERFORMANCES

ELISABETH M EITELBERGER (Austria/Australia) – Performance was filmed on the 20 July 2010 in Sydney at Artspace, Woolloomooloo

This performance symbolises my struggle with being/accepting myself as who I am – in different cultural environments. White body powder and aluminium foil symbolise the nearly desperate attempt to take on layers of a different cultural identity. The work questions cultural acceptance/misunderstandings, multilingual communication, feelings of isolation and vulnerability, layers of self-identification but also human pride. I use different materials to cover my body: white body powder, crepe bandage to cover my hair, aluminium foil, and my old but beloved nightdress. I have written down some words in German and English, which I use for creating the background on the wall; next to it I place a white plinth; I sit on it like a statue. I carry a linen bag over my shoulder, filled with small pieces of aluminium foil. The action starts: I try to cover one foot, then one hand, then one ear and my mouth with aluminium foil. The foil does not stick very well; I start taking it off again, try to dust off the powder. I stick a fragile sticker onto my nightdress and sit upright facing the camera.

PATRICK TAGOE-TURKSON (Ghana) – The Ant and the Slipper Ant Hill – Performance was filmed during his participation in the NatureArt Biennale in Gogju (South Korea) between August and September 2010

I use the found slipper sheet, which I stitched together manually and the jute+ slipper cloth in this performance to synonymously make analogy to the complexity of humanity-to show that everything around us and more importantly within us is equally important. For instance the way we relate to our external world (our inner feelings) as against our external experiences. The anthill may look beautiful externally, but within it is a whole world on its own. We may wear our shoes or slippers, because of their external appeal but alas under the foot is the real action. I wrap myself with the slipper sheet and move in a straight but interrupted by items of daily life like the sunglasses, cameras, hat, can drinks, shoes, and so on which a found along my course. I stop to pick as much as these items which I can carry along. I did this because I believe that as we walk on the part of life there are a lot of experiences, challenges, things we meet on our way, some of them we pick, others we leave behind. It is the things, which we pick- those experiences that eventually become our true self, our internal room. The performance eventually ends with me, and my gathered items in my slipper anthill.

SABINE WUTSCHEK (Austria) – Performance was filmed at the practice Albertgasse 26, 1080 Vienna, Date: 24th August 2010

The internal space is a space within the skin. My internal space is above my belly button, inside my body. I feel that all power originates from there and that this space accompanies me all the time. I clearly feel this spot gently embedded within the tenderness and softness of my organs. Reachable and connected with the outside world through all my apertures: mouth, nose, ears, vulva, anus and belly button. I started to make a visionary journey approximately two years ago. I wanted to know, how my inner space would look like. This space was empty and I sat on a wooden chair in a bathrobe out of white terry cloth. I visited this space again and again. And never, sitting on that chair in my bathrobe, anything changed. I haven’t been looking inside now for more than a year. Meanwhile I have found a space within the manifest world, which feels like my space. I used Internal Room to put my bathrobe on again and sit on a chair in this/my space to see what I could discover today within this space and what I actually would do. The video is the outcome of this exploration. Edith Grandits, behind the camera, went on this journey with me. Thank you!

insidefrantschesko by aka FRANZ SRAMEK (Austria) – Performance was filmed on 29 August 2010, biotop- fallmerayer, Vienna; helping hands: sabine wutschek = gentleangel

There is a persistent popping of flashbulbs in my head, consisting of thoughts, images, sounds, and more… and I think that my soul has chosen the slowness to be able to overcome this clutter in my head and to find my way through life.

ROBERT MEDRALA (USA) – Performance was filmed at his work studio in Philadelphia, USA

The performance shows Robert in his work studio. He talks to the viewer.

SORAMARU TAKAYAMA (Japan) – Performance was filmed in July 2010 in Perth, Western Australia based on his poem for Internal Room

The cosmos is within you. So don’t cry, the stars are twinkling. The cosmos was born within you. I am not the familiar self, looking out from within. I am the unfamiliar self, reflected back from without. The inner self is its own brimming world. If it is no larger than what is beyond, still it is no smaller. Existence is language. Upon our backs we carry a burden. That is our language.

 BELLO BENISCHAUER (Australia/Austria) – Performance was filmed in November 2010 at the ART IN PROCESS studio, Fremantle, Western Australia

Bello performs silently in front of diverse screens that show the single videos. He reacts blindfolded to the sound of the individual parts. The connection of the videos takes place through his presence, sitting in front of them.