Simon Baumann: «Boden»

Description

A figure stands in front of a curtain and wants to explain what homeland is. It begins orderly. It does not end that way. A lecture-performance that deconstructs itself: Simon Baumann tries to grasp, define, and stick the concept of homeland to the wall. And over the course of the evening, he realizes that homeland fights back. What starts as a lecture turns into a stage set made of tape, trash bags, and zombie blood. In the end, no one remains who has explained something. Only someone who has experienced something. Behind the curtain, the Jodlerklub Lorraine-Breitenrain stands. Its interventions acoustically influence the proceedings: sometimes harmoniously, sometimes disturbingly, like echoes of a collective memory. The choir acts as a cultural counterpart to the figure, as the voice of a traditional legacy that is not reproduced in the piece but is irritated, distorted, and challenged. «Boden» places attributions and opposites into the space and leaves them there: traditional club meets contemporary performance, yodeling is reinterpreted. Friction as a principle, not as an effect. What appears at first glance as a contradiction is the only honest answer to a topic that eludes clarity. Artistic direction/performance: Simon Baumann. Choir/performance: Jodlerklub Lorraine-Breitenrain. Stage management: Sanja Lukanović. Technical management: Milena Gerber. Photos: Tim Rod. Duration: 60 minutes. Audience discussion on 16.10. www. baumannsimon. ch