To many people need to much space, creepy babies are staring in your face. Just wrap a generation, a whole bloody nation,
Give us some spacetime to put them in graves.
This day was immensely important. Let me tell you why.
I met Mohammed in the hotelbar. He just had 3 days with his family and friends cause a familymember died. He looked tyred. "I didn't sleep or eat these days" he said.
We spoke about it. He doesn't like the way how funelrals happen here.
"There are so many people, and they all say "I'm sorry", "don't cry", and they don't let you cry, they don't give you the space to experience loss."
When we arranged our agenda's he directly said that he wanted to speak about freedom in the performance. He doesn't feel free because he has to pay the bill, has to carry an identitycard, has to react to the phone etc. etc. He doesn't have space to choose things for himself. Let me come back on that.
I am busy with a picture collection of hearts drawn on the streetwalls.
Because it's something that you normally don't see, but if I collect them it becomes a bigger event.
The same happens in the media (about Israel). They concentrate on war, fighting, death, blood, loss. Offcourse that's just a small part of reality. I'd like to concentrate now on another side of life here.
"So, in stead of concentrating on the habbits of stress, I would like to concentrate on our needs" - I said to Mohammed. Maybe we should claim the space, in stead of being slaves of stuff, of others, who want things from you. Let's concentrate on the freedom to choose, to claim space for ourselves.
I think we should give ourselves this space, and not wait for people (or God/Allah) to give it."
He seemed very exited and I showed him the text I wrote last night. I slept 4 hours so I hoped he was exited on this too.
The concept is this:
We are looking through a big hole in the roof, at the public. We are stuck on the roof, between heaven and earth. We are there for 200 years already, longing for eigther earthly life with all it's sensations (longing for the past, down there with the people) - or heaven, with all it's promises (craving for the future, up there in the sky, where the public is also looking at).
We are stuck and bored. Waiting for something to tell us what to do, who puts us on our place.
Our boredom sometimes comes with noises from the mouth, and this will transform into making music together. Suddenly we see eachother! We are the same here, same rittme, enjoying this moment. Suddenly we don't long for other places and other times. We claim the roof. We claim this space!
Lets live here!
I wanted to speak about death with Mohammed this morning because death is such a big event, that it forces you to connect to the things that really matter, the things you really need from the heart. And this is exactly what we did today. Taking space and time in order to express ourselves to eachother.
I realise this all sounds a bit dreamy to you, and it is, because stories are dreamy. They are not real.
They are not in the present. Stories are in the head, in the past or in the future.
Tomorrow we rehearse on the roof... very real. Yes.
Want to see more about me and my performance artwork? www.nicksteur.com
