THE SILENT NEIGHBOR (DIE STILLE NACHBARIN), 2011

Performance / Video (HD, 4:27min) 3 x 3 hrs / 3 x the whole night (Loop)

in the frame of the art festival „Tatort Hernals“, Gschwandnergasse 59, 1170 Vienna (D)


THE SILENT NEIGHBOR
said nothing.
THE SILENT NEIGHBOR
 has neither heard nor seen.
THE SILENT NEIGHBOR
is neither dead nor alive.
THE SILENT NEIGHBOR
is a variable.

Performance and video installation, photo: Christian Messner, editing: Veronika Merklein
Performance and video installation, photo: Christian Messner, editing: Veronika Merklein

THE SILENT NEIGHBOR is a performative project which was staged in my apartment, located on the ground floor of the Gschwandnergasse 59, Vienna-Hernals. In THE SILENT NEIGHBOR, I take up topics that are negotiated within the private area. In the best case they should remain unseen, unheard and undone.


On three consecutive days, three hours a day, I stand on a pedestal, apparently hanged on a smiley-face balloon filled with helium. (As in a trompe-l’oeil painting, the pedestal disappears into the background).
At night, a video loop is shown throughout the duration of the night. One sees my face, slowly beginning to smile. Behind the facade of the blemish-less face foulness is revealed through making ”my” rotten teeth visible. The audience can see the performance and the video only through an open window to the street.