Courtesy visit
During a residency in Düsseldorf, I found out that the house complex I was living and working in was first built by the Nazis in 1937 as model for artists housings. I decided to do a performance at the end of my residency, where I was leading an audience through this area.
I started by explaining how I enjoyed my time in this beautiful place, specially the nice proportions of my studio-housing. That´s the reason I redraw its plan by myself, and shared it with the audience.
Then we went in the middle of the common garden, where I did a parallel with the american TV show Melrose Place I used to watch as a teenager : a pool in the middle surrounded with housings. At the difference here that the inhabitants are not sharing the originally common space, but rather appropriates parts of it by using sometimes strong physically barriers.
In this context, I decided to copy them and slowly expand my territory: I first appropriated the green space in front of my house by cutting the bamboo that overgrown there. Moreover I renovated a part of the pool that was recovered with vegetation. By doing that, I started a little territory war in the house complex. To protect myself, I built a bow and some arrows made with the bamboo rods I cut previously.
Kulturamt Düsseldorf residency program, 2015
Franz-Jürgens-str. 12, Haus 10, 407474 Düsseldorf