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«Water the earth, polish the steel, tighten the threads»
Simone Aughterlony, Sarah Burger, Johanna Kotlaris, Dafi Kühne

PerformanceInstallationShowing

Over three days, Südbühne will be transformed into a walk-in, performative installation about hands, action and the loss of control.

  • Fri 16/05 18:00 – 22:00

    Südbühne

  • Sat 17/05 16:00 – 20:00

    Südbühne

  • Sun 18/05 14:00 – 18:00

    Südbühne

Copyright: Sarah Burger

«Water the earth, polish the steel, tighten the threads» is the result of joint research by dancer and choreographer Simone Aughterlony and visual artists Sarah Burger, Johanna Kotlaris and Dafi Kühne on the subject of hands - based on the three texts “Politics of Touch” by Erin Manning, “Prehension” by Collin McGinn and the eponymous poem “Maintenance” by Anne Carson.

The four works deal with different aspects of touch and action. It is about the loss of control; about precision craftsmanship in dealing with tools that have a life of their own; about the relationship between value and proximity and the potential of the gap between what is actually present and what is spatio-temporally distant. The results are drawings, objects, prints and performative miniatures.

Over the course of three days, Südbühne will be transformed into a walk-in, performative installation that visitors can enter and leave at any time during the event.

Information on accessibility and language

The premises are accessible without steps and the artists offer spontaneous guided tours through the installation in Swiss German, German and English.

The Installation contains Unclothedness.

Free entry

About the artists

  • Sarah Burger deals with the transformation of materials, with questions about the duration of things and substances and the interplay of natural and cultural forces. She examines and observes things that are on the margins of attention, supposedly broken, no longer used, lost or technically obsolete. More information. 

    Johanna Kotlaris is interested in the interpersonal experience and the emergence and dissolution of the associated spatial boundaries. Using different media such as performance, sound, installation, video and sculpture, she investigates how personal experience is intertwined with our social and political reality and how this interplay creates power relations. Mehr Informationen.

    Simone Aughterlony's work processes follow alternative concepts of family that create space for familiar and new elements in our togetherness. Their works are playful compositions around the question of appearance and weariness, with offshoots into the phenomenologies of the unrecognizable and the absurd. More information. Mehr Informationen.

    Dafi Kühne uses a wild mix of analog and digital tools in his studio to produce posters for music, art, architecture, theater and film projects, but also for products. With this one main rule in his studio “No PDF ever leaves the studio as a final product”, he prints all his posters on letterpresses. More information. Mehr Informationen. 

Credits

  • From:
    Sarah Burger, Simone Aughterlony, Johanna Kotlaris, Dafi Kühne
    In cooperation with:
    Gessnerallee

Supported by

  • Stadt Zürich Kultur, Buch und Literatur Ost+ , Kulturförderung Kanton Glarus Swisslos, Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zürich, Ernst und Olga Gubler-Hablützel Stiftung, Viarco - Indústria de Lápis, Lda.

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