BITE #3 – Hannes Egger
Kitchen Performance or The Order of Things
Contemporary Bites Archive
Bite #3 by HANNES EGGER
2020/04/30
MERANO, ITALY
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE US TO KNOW ABOUT YOU?
I don’t think it’s so important to know a lot about me. I studied philosophy, which was soon too academic and not creative enough for me. Then I started making art, whereby my art is always a reflection. My artworks are experimental thinking spaces. I try to go through the world with open eyes, to keep a certain distance and to reflect on what is happening around me.
HOW DID THE COVID-19 BREAKDOWN AFFECT YOUR WORK AS AN ARTIST?
In my work I try to concentrate on the essential things. For a long time now I have been working on withdrawing from the traditional media and creating ephimeric works that are performed by the audience. Normally I work with public institutions, as they all closed down during the Covid-16 crisis, I was wondering if it would be possible to perform my work at home. This is how „Kitchen Performance or The Order of Things“ came about. The crisis has broadened my horizon of thinking, because I have to deal with a new situation. I assume that this crisis is not a one-off event in our lives, but a harbinger of further, perhaps climate-related, transformations that will change the way we deal with the world.
HAS YOUR WAY OF THINKING/PRODUCING ART CHANGED? IN WHAT WAY?
My art production has been decentralized for many years. It is art that is produced and can take place anywhere. It also does not need its own production rooms, so the effects of the Covid 19 crisis on my production practice are minimal.
The crisis has rather strengthened my way of thinking and therefore also my way of producing.
It has confirmed me to continue to work the way I have been doing it for several years. On the one hand, my work is very close to the audience, but at the same time keeps the greatest possible distance. Proximity and distance are important subliminal themes in my work, the sociological significance of which I have become increasingly aware of over the past few weeks.
ABOUT THE BITE
With the ban on socialising designed to contain the COVID-19 epidemic, I have been one of millions of people worldwide who have been cooped up in the kitchen for hours on end, cooking, washing and spring-cleaning. Mealtimes are the highspots of the quarantine day, but in between he has been reading, surfing the Internet, drawing, listening to music and ‘chatting’ with friends.
Amid pots and pans, kitchen stove and work-desk, I have got up an audio performance that everyone can interpret from their homes. The six-minute slot is dedicated to all who are confined to the house at this tricky juncture. Enacting this performance is easy: you simply go into the kitchen, set up the video and follow the instructions.
The performance begins with a quote from Martha Rosler’s performance Semiotic of the Kitchen, then all sorts of things are taken out of the cupboards and in the end nothing will be as it was before: a new order will have been achieved.
EXTERNAL LINKS
WEBSITE
www.hannesegger.com
