Hard to Swallow
2024, w/ Young Valley Soil
reading performance, Installation with various dishes and drinks,
M1. Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung Hohenlockstedt
Photos: Marie-Theres Böhmker
A performative lunch exploring the manifestations of envy within the art and cultural sector.
“[...] As already suggested by the title, the texts, and the culinary accompaniment, the work is concerned with the digestibility of these uncomfortable feelings. If you swallow everything down, how can you digest it all without getting a stomachache?
The texts that were read are laid out on the set table alongside further reading, almost on an equal footing with the actual buffet. A kind of banquet offering numerous points of entry and possibilities to engage in conversation, to eat together, and to digest. It is about performance, applications and rejections, networking, friendship, and economics.
I think about my most recent feelings of envy. And there it is, immediately, as if at the push of a button. I am ashamed. Better to swallow it down. The proverbial knot in my stomach is, as announced, difficult to digest, which is why a walk after such a meal would probably be the best thing. After a meal, you should rest—or walk a thousand steps…
“But at least I got my friends
Share a raincoat in the wind
They got my back until the end” — Aura Dione"
Text (translated from german): Anne Meerpohl, Nach dem Essen sollst du ruh’n oder tausend Schritte tun, on Hard to Swallow