An announcement came up which informed attendees of a performance by Brazilian artist Janaia Andre in the hall. She is known for incorporating local Brazilian traditions into her work, and this time, she also showed her video work. Listening to the music installation, upwards of ten people were comfortably laying down, sprawled on the carpet lined pool, waiting for the beginning of the performance. as tiles.

The music of the installation turned into the sound of rain. Then, a woman with a laundry basket suddenly showed up from behind. She was the performer. There were several disorderly clothes like washing in the laundry basket, and she slowly took these one by one even humming a tune, and hung these on a string. The clothes’ printing like a woodcut was with a motif of daily products including a jar and tableware.

After she finished hanging five or six clothes, she put one of them on her back, and had another one around her head. Then she hung the last picture with a human hanging head down on a string, and burned incense in a small jar she took out. She started turning the jar around and got close to the audience so they could receive the smoke. Changing completely from some time ago, her expression was like a shaman.

She turned around putting white grains (I figured out it was popcorn) on audience members heads, and started taking their hands. Gradually, connecting to each other, everyone inside the pool stood up and made one circle. The circle repeated a movement several times; spreading outwards and gathering inside. By her leading, the circle collapsed and got a line, and the line turned to spiral. The spiral changed to a nest, and the head of the spiral went out and made a circle again. The performance reached a climax, and ended when the circle gathered inside again.

This approach of leading the audience and involving them in the performance was fresh and new for me. It was also interesting that audiences being involved uplifted their feelings.

Trouble 1: Female Body
Date: May 28th – 29th, 2005
Place: Stadtbad Oderberger
Address: 57/59 Oderberger Strasse, 10435 Berlin
Tel: +49 (0)30 780 089 760
http://www.stadtbad-oderberger.de