Death is Certain
Around a hundred pedantically ordered kitchen utensils and DIY tools lie on a table. Next to them thirty-six cherries have been placed, arranged in an exact pattern. The performer dressed in black calmly puts on a white apron, takes a cherry and removes its stalk. She selects a pack of dental floss and a roll of sticky tape. Placing both on a second table, she breaks off a long piece of floss, ties it around the cherry and sticks the other end to the corner of the table. For a short moment the cherry is left on the edge of the table and then the performer pushes it gently over the edge. The cherry's fall ends abruptly and it dangles in the air from the thread. Now it's the turn of the next cherry in the line. It is bound to a stone with the sticky tape and left to drown in a plastic cup full of water. The third suffers being quartered with white plastic hair grips. A bloodbath is left on the tablecloth. Number four is skinned, but that's not enough - a pinch of salt is strewn across its raw flesh...
One action follows the other: Blood flows, skin is ripped off, bodies explode, are squashed, electrocuted or burned. In Death is Certain Eva Meyer-Keller devises thirty-six mini scenarios of torture and execution which transform the small immaculate bodies of the fruit into figures that seem to increasingly identify themselves with human beings. Everyday household objects become agents of death and by the end the almost surgically clean table resembles the scene of a slaughter. The tableaux vivants play on the individual associations and collective memory of images from literary and film deaths as well as the mediated 'reality' of war and execution. With performative sensitivity and manual dexterity the cherries' demise become a screen the spectators project their fantasies onto. The everyday and the brutally spectacular in this way become reflections of one another. The demonstrably harmless turns into its opposite while at the same time an absurd and politically explosive comedy emerges, throwing the question of responsibility back at the audience's gaze.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfxdB33hAS8
Credits
IDEA
Eva Meyer-Keller
WITH
Eva Meyer-Keller or Irina Müller, Hanna Sybille Müller, Christina Röfer
PRODUCTION
Eva Meyer-Keller
Eva Meyer-Keller
Alexandra Bachzetsis, Juan Dominguez, Mette Edwardsen, Cuqui Jerez, Martin Nachbar, Rico Repotente, Vooruit (Gent), Stuk (Leuven)
PHOTO
Hervé Véronèse
Venues
DEATH IS CERTAIN - Dialog am Schneidebrett mit Eva Meyer-Keller und Greta Olson
24.08.2019
DEATH IS CERTAIN
21.07.2016
Łokietka 5, Breslau (PL)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
08.03.2016—10.03.2016
Oslo International Theater Festival, Black box teater, Oslo (NO)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
25.02.2016—25.02.2016
Links Hall, Chicago (US)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
21.05.2015—22.05.2015
Dublin Dance Festival, Project Arts Center, Dublin (IR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
29.11.2014
Döden/Gillestugan, Almars gård, Karlstad (SE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
31.05.2014—01.06.2014
Festival Perspectives, U2 Raum, Saarbrücken (DE) & Musée de la guerre, Gravelotte (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
31.05.2014
It's about time, Dansehallerne, Copenhagen (DK)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
24.05.2014
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz (LI)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
10.04.2014
CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid (ES)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
26.11.2013
Kriegstheater, Skogen, Göteborg (SE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
25.11.2013—26.11.2013
Théâtre des Quatre Saisons, Gradignan (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
06.11.2014—13.11.2013
Demokratie im Dialog, tjg. theater junge generation, Dresden (DE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
03.11.2013—04.11.2013
Deutsch-Sudanesische Unabhängige Theatertage, Khartoum (SD)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
19.10.2013—20.10.2013
Escena Poblenou, Barcelona (ES)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
11.03.2013—13.03.2013
Le Théâtre de Lorient, Lorient (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
26.01.2013
FigurenTheaterForum München, Münchner Stadtmuseum, München (DE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
DEATH IS CERTAIN
05.12.2012
Ludlow 38, New York (US)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
27.09.2012—29.09.2012
Stuk, Leuven (BE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
28.04.2012—29.04.2012
Musée des Enfants de la Danse, Rennes (FR
DEATH IS CERTAIN
25.05.2011—26.05.2011
Brighton Festival, the basement, Brighton (UK)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
09.04.2011—10.04.2011
Le Manège de Reims, Reims (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
24.09.2010—25.09.2010
Iaspis, Öppet Hus, Stockholm (SE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
15.05.2010—16.05.2010
Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Norwich (UK)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
27.02.2010
Julia Stoschek Collection, Number Three: Here and Now, Düsseldorf (DE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
06.11.2009
Okno Festival, Kana Teatr, Szczecin (PL)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
09.05.2009
EUNIC Hrvatska, Zagreb (HR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
07.04.2009—08.04.2009
Festival Bo:m, Seoul (KR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
02.04.2009—03.04.2009
Paroles d'Objets, Mont-Saint-Aignan (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
18.03.2009—19.03.2009
Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah (AE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
18.09.2008
Festival ZXZW, Tilburg (NL)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.08.2008
Lofoten International Art Festival, Lofoten (NO)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
14.06.2008—15.06.2008
Perspectives Festival, Saarbrücken (DE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.06.2008
Printemps de Danse, Angoulème (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.06.2008
Théâtre Garonne, Toulouse (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.03.2008
La Filature, Mulhouse (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
13.11.2007—14.11.2007
Le Bateau Feu/Scène Nationale, Dunkerque (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
07.11.2007—08.11.2007
Kaai Studios, Brussels (BE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.10.2007
Performance Space, Sydney (AU)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.10.2007
Potager du Roi, Versailles (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.11.2006
Lesophantenfest, Hauptbücherei am Gürtel, Wien (A)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.11.2006
Dschungel Wien, MuseumsQuartier Wien, Vienna (A)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.09.2006
Printemps de Septembre, Toulouse (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.05.2006
TNT, Bordeaux (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.04.2006
Tweetakt Festival, Utrecht (NL)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
17.03.2006—20.03.2006
Blickfelder, Zürich (CH)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.02.2006
Crying out Loud, London (UK)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.12.2005
Akademie der Künste, Berlin (DE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.12.2005
CCA - Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow (UK)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.09.2005
VideoDance Festival, Tessaloniki (GR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.11.2005
Centro Cultural de Belem, Lisbon (PT)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.11.2005
Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto (PT)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.11.2005
Granit, Belfort (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.11.2005
Tallinn (EE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.09.2005
Lenz Rifrazioni, Parma (IT)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.08.2005
Rohkunstbau, Schloss Groß Leuthen, Groß Leuthen (DE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.07.2005
Kunsthalle Kiel, Kiel (DE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.06.2005
Symposium "Politik der Vorstellung", Schauspielhaus Bochum, Bochum (DE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.05.2005
Factory Season, Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna (AT)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.05.2005
Tweetakt Festival, Utrecht (NL)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.03.2005
Avantgarden, Trondheim (NO)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.02.2005
Equilibrio, Auditorium, Rome (IT)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.11.2004
CCN - Centre Chorégraphique National de Tours, Tours (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
10.10.2004
3 Wochen mit Pina Bausch, PACT Zollverein, Essen (DE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.10.2004
LIFT, 20th anniversary of Forced Entertainment, London (UK)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.10.2004
Le Vivat, Lille (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
04.05.2005
Hasselt (BE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.06.2004
Mugatxoan, San Sebastian (ES)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.05.2004
Kampnagel, Hamburg (DE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.04.2004
Motel Mosaique Festival, Tent, Rotterdamse Schouwburg (NL)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.04.2004
Drimast Festival, Antwerpen (BE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.04.2004
Soirées Nomades, Fondation Cartier, Paris (FR)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.04.2004
Your private sky, Xing, Bologna (IT)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.04.2004
Panacea Festival, Dansenshus, Stockholm (SE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.11.2003
Tourette's, W139, Amsterdam (NL)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.02.2004
Blanco, Beursschouwburg, Brussels (BE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.12.2003
Galerie Message Salon, Zürich (CH)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.02.2004
Something Raw, Brakke Grond, Amsterdam (NL)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.10.2003
Klapstuk Parcours 1, Stuk, Leuven (BE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.09.2003
Capitals, Fundação Gulbenkian, Lissabon (PT)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.06.2003
Reich und Berühmt, Podewil, Berlin (DE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.01.2003
Tanzinitiative, Hamburg (DE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.11.2002
B-visible, Vooruit, Ghent (BE)
DEATH IS CERTAIN
01.08.2002
Galerie Message Salon, Zürich (CH)