Planned over a two-year period, this was the most complex performance I ever have staged.
Due to a number of organization reasons I had to change my concept in the last preparation phase.
All this coincided with September 11.
Under these aspects, I created my first survival training sitting on a king’s chair and demanding my own airline.
For one baking time (50 min) I stepped into my room installation.
A fresh prepared cake was put in an arranged oven; I turned the heat on, changed a running video projection from my own advertisement to a ballet of women shooting with guns.
I went further to the middle of the room where a second cake was situated on a plinth.
This cake was detonated with a big bang - smell and smog everywhere.
After this I seated myself on the throne and tried to move my airplanes with a remote controller.
This was not easy at all, because everything was covered with pieces of the exploded cake.
As time progressed the dirty smell became more and more mixed with the aura of the fresh baking cake (Königskuchen = kings cake: an old traditional recipe full with ingredients from foreign continents; totally out of fashion today in my country).
Also the smog went away slowly.
After 55 minutes the oven’s bell rang, I stopped moving the planes, took the fresh cake out of the oven, changed the video back to the advertisement and left the room.
I showed the credits on a second projection: the ingredients of the cake. |