WHEN MOUTH MEETS NOSE – VOCABULARY OF EMPATHY

Performance Festival in der Kleinen Orangerie, Berlin

2022

WHEN MOUTH MEETS NOSE – Vocabulary of Empathy, 2022
Premiere: September 3 /4, 2022
Concept: Stella Geppert / Performance and creation with Lyllie Rouvière, Stella Geppert, and friends, ca. 40 min, branches (Robinia pseudoacacia), broom, INVENTING THE SPINE (Imprint from mouth and nose)

In the performance WHEN MOUTH MEETS NOSE – Vocabulary of Empathy, the body is seen as a “membrane”. Humans and other species, plants, cells, and organs interact. The movements are understood as interactions that shape and surrender to the space. The mouth and the nose are activated by movements. This work is also about transformational states of body and space, material and touch, contact and resonance. This performance, which involves the audience, refers to an imprint of the tip of the nose and the mouth, which, when superimposed, surprisingly represents the spine. Geppert‘s work INVENTING THE SPINE is the basis for this performance and forms a minimal stage set in the space. In Geppert‘s work, what is depicted on the outside finds a counterpart on the inside. This phenomenon is transferred to the space where the mouth meets the nose. In a figurative sense, the spine spreads out into the room, where the brooms gently touch the ceiling and the mouth and nose “breathe” on the floor and walls. In addition, the tips of the performers‘ noses are set up at 25 meters as an imaginary visual axis in the space, and then breathy kisses and nose tips are sent around the room. Geppert initiates breathing as an inner touch with the spine. While the performance has long since ended, the gesture of “nudging another person’s nose in the air and blowing kisses” is continued in a humorous and empathic way.