THE FLUTE (2018)


"The Flute" was staged at the Kunstverein in Cologne, both as a performance and film shoot. Four performers, including the artist, performed both as their “real” selves and as and fictional characters: Souffleuse, Narrator, Flutist and Cameraperson. The performers followed a script spanning five acts. Each of the five acts was accompanied by a different, originally composed beat, that the flutist improvised to.
At the same time, the performaers captured the performance with two cameras, which were passed around between them.
The footage was live-projected on two screens in the same space. In this way, the audience was given the choice whether to follow the live performance or the mediated “livestream” and had the opportunity to become aware of their role as spectators.
The cut-up script was based on research on the anthropology and mythology of the flute, whose sound is in many cultures constructed as a site of desire and of power struggles around gender. Both original writing and appropriated material were used for the script.