THE VICTIM

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Last verion for website

“The Victim”

Part of Month of Performance Berlin in OKK Gallery Berlin/ May 2014

This performance consisted of some flour, the head of a lamb purchased at a slaughterhouse in Berlin and a video from southern Iraq, all accompanied by an electronic rhythm simulating a heart beat. The video showed the pale sun in a country destroyed by war. The performance began with a series of deep breaths, with which I represented death and dying. After that, I went to the head of the lamb and stood next to it. I start whistling and using the language of the shepherds, who I had often seen as a child in our village. I was trying to communicate with the head, to bring it back to life. I touched it with my hands. I kissed it. And at the same time, the video was projected onto my face and the head. The video was an amateur recording by US soldiers which I found on the internet. During the performance, I also washed the lamb’s head to get rid of the blood. After that, I took flour in my mouth several times and blew it out, dusting the entire head.

My purpose in this performance was to provide time and an opportunity for the audience to reflect on our relationship to all the tragedies of war and violence which occur in the world and our indirect participation in these unwanted events.