Der Rand

(The Edge) 2008
Kunsthalle, Wuppertal, Germany

It is a concrete limit, which is transgressed or not, which is feared or ignored. I want to touch the subconscious of the spectators with a controversial image ... (Images are the language of the unconscious).

A black cloth lies on the floor of the room, it is a line of 7 m length and 0.75 m width. At the end of the room, on the opposite wall, a black cloth hangs, something is hidden behind it...

During the performance, I lift the fabric from the floor, a line of stones gradually becomes visible. Then I go to the black fabric on the wall and tear it up abruptly, behind it the imperative words DESTROY ME! appear... What kind of feelings arise by this statement? What is the power words? ...a tenacious order that comes from hierarchy, an irresistible desire to destroy, madness unleashed, hatred disguised, religious punishment: a temptation, the unconscious vibrates! Silence and tension vibrate inside the room...

The line of stones separates me from the spectators... it is the edge that pulsates. I'm trembling with my bare back. Somebody could throw a stone at me...

I remember the case of Dua Khalil, a girl from Mosul, Iraq, who has just fallen in love with a boy of another religion. For this reason she was stoned to death, by her relatives, because she was a disobedient!
These murderers are protected by an Islamic law, the so-called Sharia. It entitles husbands or relatives to corporal punishment of women who do not follow the rules. Propagation and defense of the basic instincts, sickly lust, justification of intimate frustrations, macho dominance and morbid fundamentalism? This is Gender Violence, this is murder!

Immediately after I leave the room, some spectators start throwing stones with fury at the wall where I was.

Photo-Documentation: Debbie Runkel
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