Lisa Domin (V.16)
IT’S SO SAD THE GIRAFFE IS DEAD, 2016
In 2013 in Egypt, the Arab Spring came to a new violent climax with the overthrow of President Mohammed Mursi. At the same time, another theme was the subject of intense discussion in the international media: the apparent suicide of the giraffe Roqa in the Giza Zoo in Cairo, which was located nearby to where some of the protests took place. How did this animal’s suicide become a focal point for the media in a time of such great political unrest? In her performance, Lisa Domin illustrates how the death of the giraffe came to symbolize the hopeless political situation of the rebellion, which had itself begun with a suicide in 2010. We see images from Giza Zoo projected on a film screen. The material illustrates the gloomy conditions at the zoo: abandoned enclosures, buildings in ruins, and small groups of animals in sparse surroundings. But it is the combination of these varied film excerpts with Zofia Bartoszewicz’s vocal improvisations which first makes the political potential of performance clear. Following the images, she alternates between whispers, a raised voice and song, imitating the sounds of various languages. The only words we hear clearly are »depression« and »giraffe«. Both the international focus on the event and the broader omnipresent air of depression are captured by the work’s atmosphere. With musical accompaniment by electric guitarist Ralf-Tibor Stemmer, a tense atmosphere arises, much like the one that both people and the animal in question were exposed to during the rebellion. With the screamed refrain »it’s so sad the giraffe is dead«, the artist retrospectively gives voice to the disappointed hope for political change. It is a voice that will long echo in your memory. (Annika Artmann)
Date: Thursday, february 16th 2017, 8 p.m. // Saturday, february 18th 2017, 8 p.m.
Place: Kunstmuseum Bonn // Fabrik45, Hochstadenring 45, Bonn