Tattooing the Earth is a collective mapping developed by artist group Freundliche Mitte. It centres around the landscape as a mirror of ownership structures, democratic and anti-democratic spaces, as a place of remembrance and sedimentation. Conceived as a walk-in installation, Tattooing the Earth feels its way along the surface of the earth, through colliding plates and habitats. Through disappearance. The result is a non-linear narrative assembled from bits and pieces that is continued and rewritten together with accomplices. Which memory remains, which counts?
Someone notes down what they experience, for the record, to defy the shifting of events, the memories that unfold and superimpose each other, break in and break up. It’s a record that attempts to capture an eluding, shifting, dissolving present. It’s the record of a peregrination through colliding landscapes, along the boundaries of tectonic plates, over white surfaces, vanished territories. It’s the protocol of someone’s own disappearance, from the landscape, from memories, from language. Which memory remains, which counts?
Tattooing the Earth is being created as a non-linear narrative assembled from bits and pieces, information, lies, and fiction, all continued and rewritten together with accomplices. A walk-in essay that keeps being written thus evolves at brut nordwest, with workshops and talks enhancing it. Perspectives are flexible, their images always incomplete, always moving.
The performance will be framed by workshops and talks.
Wed, 18th January
7:00 pm: Open archive
8:00 pm: Protocolling Demolition Talk with Katrin Hornek and Elisabeth Schäfer, moderated by Matthias Seier
Fri, 20th January
7:00 pm: Open archive
8:00 pm: Deromanticizing Nature Talk with Fahim Amir and Nanna Heidenreich, moderated by Anna Laner
Sat, 21st January
5:00–7:00 pm: Fighting in Contaminated Spaces – Fieldwork with Erde Brennt
Followed by the performance Tattooing the Earth
Sun, 22nd January
5:00–7:00 pm: Fighting in Contaminated Spaces – Fieldwork with LAGDA
Followed by the performance Tattooing the Earth
The performance collective Freundliche Mitte was established in 2011 by writer Gerhild Steinbuch, set designer Philine Rinnert and actor Sebastian Straub as part of a joint project at steirischer herbst. The collective has chosen to work without the authority of a director. It constantly grows by new accomplices from different artistic and scientific fields such as architecture and music and collaborates with experts from various initiatives and societies. Since 2018, Freundliche Mitte have been working closely with Vienna-based musician b.fleischmann. Joint works include: Am Schönsten ist das was bereits verschwunden ist (steirischer herbst, Graz, 2011), Previously On (Garage X, Vienna, 2014), Finsternis (brut Wien, 2016), BERGEINS (brut Wien, 2018), Oratorio Europa (brut Wien, 2019), Sportplatz Europa (brut Wien, 2021).
www.freundlichemitte.com
Created by and featuring Freundliche Mitte
Music Misonica Video Ian Purnell
With special thanks to Mirjam Papouschek & Stephan Langer.
A co-production of Freundliche Mitte and brut Wien. With the kind support of the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs.
brut nordwest
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna