We leave our front door and everything runs by itself. We move through the streets. People pass, cars speed by. The supermarket door opens automatically. Our body moves as if on invisible tracks. In our thoughts we are coping with an approaching future. In a hurry, we reach for groceries. We are already standing at the cash register. We forget the face of the cashier the moment we see it. How easy it is to simply miss the unique moments of our golden shimmering existence in the here and now in the rush of the world…
Counteracting this, katze und krieg celebrate our existence in the everyday world. The glorification of the everyday moment becomes an intervention in our functional urbanity. katze und krieg go shopping for a cake in a cheap discounter with the greatest slowness. Twelve spectators are invited to unobtrusively accompany the two performers on their way and to watch the reactions, which range from admiration to aggression. Once a new cash register is opened for katze und krieg in order not to delay the procedures of the store unnecessarily, another time the cashier joins in the slowness of the two, or once katze und krieg are led out of the supermarket by security. Leaving the supermarket again, katze und krieg sit down on the sidewalk and invite passers-by as well as the audience to eat the cake with them in a very decelerated way.
Performances
On September 17, 2012 the premiere took place in Vienna, starting from the Gallery of the Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture, Austria.
On June 4/5, 2013 the performance took place in Frankfurt Oder/Slubice at the Unitheafestival.
On October 1/2/4, 2013 the performance took place in Cologne at the festival “Fremdgehen” by Drama Köln.
On October 7, 2013 the performance took place in Duisburg and Oberhausen in the context of the inverscity festival.
On May 30, 2014 the performance took place in Rijeka, Croatia within the exhibition Spajalica of the Museum of Modern Art.
On May 19/20, 2017 the performance took place in Berlin, invited by the Brotfabrik Berlin.
Press
“Glanz in den Alltag bringen” by Dorothea Markus in aKT 38 in December 2012
“Auf dem Weg der Entschleunigung” by Hartmut Kelm in Frankfurt Oder Spiegel on 16.03.13
“Stresstest im Supermarkt” by Hans-Christoph Zimmermann in choices on May 2014
Support
The performance was created in the mark of the residency program at Schloss Laudon, invited by the Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture, Austria.