A cooperation project by Esther Irina Pschibul and Erika Kassnel-Henneberg
Pandemic, wars, environmental disasters and social divisions – are these the signs of our times? If so, how do we want to respond? Do we barricade ourselves in and build new bunkers? Or should we do everything we can to avoid needing them in the first place?
In audiovisual, walk-in spatial stagings, we want to explore society’s growing interest in shelters and places of refuge in order to visualize their ambivalences and question clichés. Due to an increasingly threatening socio-political scene, we are particularly interested in an imaginary protective skin, the “personal” protective shell, the intimate place of refuge in our artistic exploration: These intangible shells are of existential importance as a protective layer for people in the struggle for their own identity and culture: What defines me? How can I assert my attitude? What causes and determines my actions? The same question applies to social perception as a whole: How do we perceive ourselves as a collective? What significance do values such as respect and tolerance have for us?
Former bunkers from the Nazi era will be located, examined for atmosphere and usability and used artistically. The interior of the space is transferred to the art space as a virtually animated stage set and serves as a backdrop for our productions.
