Even when the performance takes place outdoors as a hybrid scene between theater and choreography – common even at traffic lights – many people fail to understand it. In the performance umziehen, the Brazilian artist Nathalie Fari, based in Berlin, moved around inside a box, inspired by the problem of migrant’s identity. Many people watched without batting an eyelid, but some ran past on the cycle path in Parque da Represa and spoke loudly about how weird the performance was. A policeman worried about the blonde girl tucked under a bench: “Is she doing well? Is she homeless?”

Helena Carnieri, Gazeta do Povo, 09/07/2012, my translation

Starting from the assumption that human beings need to find a place that they can call “home”, the performance umziehen explored a utopian location through a foldable paper object. By exploring the tensions between the body as a permeable skin and the space as a container, the artists developed a sort of “home en route”. On the one hand, by looking more closely at how a space may affect the body (or the other way around) and on the other, by playing with a variety of spatial elements such as: closeness vs distance, inside vs outside, inclusion vs exclusion.

Event Dates: 28.01.2011, ACUD (Premiere), Berlin / 24.07.2011 MICA MOCA Projects, Berlin / 05.09.2011, Galerie Open, Berlin / 25.09.2011, Motion 6 Festival, Berlin / 10.07 & 11.07.2012, Festival Internacional de Teatro de São José do Rio Preto (FIT), São  Paulo, BR

Credits: Concept and Performance: Nathalie S. Fari / Object and Costume: Michaela Muchina / Photos: Michaela Muchina