The forest's ground.
Wild thing - The deer
in mir
Die Zeichen im Walde
„…Sieh, der Mond scheint hell und heller,
ach so liebe Sterne lugen
in den Grund hinab, und sanfte
herrscht im Thal und Wald die Ruhe…
…Erd‘ und Himmel, Berg und Waldung,
Blum‘ und alle Kreaturen,
Er sich selber, sind wie Fremdling,
Findet nicht die vor’gen Fluren…
…Aus dem Boden steigt ein Schädel,
Und er hört fernab ein dumpfes
Winseln, ob es Geister wären
oder ein Geheul der Unken…“
Ludwig Tieck
About the performance
"The forest's ground. Wild thing-the deer in mir" was an experimental and interactive long-durational performance in the studio of Eveline Muerlebach. It dealt with the demystification of forest as a previously untouched natural space. It played with memory pictures of fairy tales and legends, which are standing around the theme of fabled forest and forest creatures and mark these as a border between the known and the strange.
For a period of three days a forest floor was laid out in a studio room. On these successive days, three different figures occupied a ladder for several hours and were moving through the installation room. The spectators were invited to actively influence the forest area by entering the installation room and by drawing on foils of an overhead projector and thus integrating their associations into the room installation.
The action thus reminded of the myth of forest as a cultural good of the Germans and their relation to the wildlife. It was a laboratory experiment to integrate the viewer and his associations into an open studio space.
