rituals of tenderness

• or towards a house of wet-knowledge*

Artistic collaborators on the way (so far): Simone Aubert, Géraldine Chollet, Michelle Ettlin, Cosima Grand, Emma Hoette, Lindiwe Matshikiza, Sarah Palin, Anja Temperli

In short: I’d like to continue thinking and researching on what kind of "spaces" need to be created to give space and place for different voices and bodies to co-exist next to and with each other; on how “vulner-ability” can claim its “ability” for good and become a strength therefore – and I would like to work (in collaboration with other artists and non-artists) on a series and collect "Rituals or acts of Tenderness" during the next two or three years… Olga Tokarczuk found words that resonate with and in me:

"Tenderness is the most modest form of love. It is the kind of love that does not appear in the scriptures or the gospels, no one swears by it, no one cites it. It has no special emblems or symbols, nor does it lead to crime, or prompt envy. It appears wherever we take a close and CARE-ful look at another being, at something that is not our “self”.

…Tenderness goes far beyond empathetic fellow feeling. Instead it is the conscious, though perhaps slightly melancholy, common sharing of fate. Tenderness is deep emotional concern about another being, its fragility, its unique nature, and its lack of immunity to suffering and the effects of time. Tenderness perceives the bonds that connect us, the similarities and sameness between us. It is a way of looking that shows the world as being alive, living, interconnected, co-operating with, and co-dependent on itself." Olga Tokarczuk, Literatur Nobel Prize Speech 2020

(picture: jessica huber - by accident I used an old film twice and ended up with a series of pictures capturing on each picture two moments in my life - but 26 years apart)

Contributors for "I lost**": Stefan Breit, Nele Fletcher, Phil Hayes, Manon Fantini, Oli Roth, Max Huber, Frau Ettlin, Michelle Ettlin, Cédric, Jessica Huber, Guy Dale

In collaboration with Gessnerallee Zürich, Schönegg Varieté

*more about wet-knowledge and why rituals soon