Recently, Unaussprechbarlich was part of the 4th KloHäuschen Biennial. Realised in collaboration with the Garten Laube in Ottobrun, the biennale had the subtitle “Von Ottoburn Lernen” and the concept “displaying strategies” - the artists were invited to display parts of a work, already presented elsewhere, that are usually hidden or invisible.
With Unaussprechbarlich, there is a mountain of “invisible” material - i won’t say it’s hidden, because most of it is on this website, but it’s not visible in the performance. Some of it is - in the form of texts spread around the walls or floor of the performance space for the audience to read - but there’s a lot more that isn’t there: videos, images, links, stray thoughts, random quotations, tangential bits of research, and performative experiments. We chose one of these performative experiments, and one piece of real-time non-translation writing (could also be called a performative experiment, perhaps?).
The Dirndl Napkins were displayed in the first part of the biennale, at the Garten Laube in Ottobrun. Early on in our creative process we had a lot of fun with the napkins, trying on a costume as one tries on a language. However in the end, we didn’t find a place in the performance for the napkins. They were displayed at Ottobrun, and at the opening of the exhibition they were offered to the public, with the invitation to “mach dein eigene Dirndl Selfie.” This proved to be a great attraction, with many people continuing to wear their napkin for the rest of the evening, not just for a selfie. Biennaleleiterin Anja Uhlig models her dindl napkin above.
In the second part of the Biennale, at Das KloHäuschen, we displayed the Frenglerbski text. This was written by Helen in 2003, at the INFANT Theatre Festival in Nove Sad, when she was sitting at a forum without an English translator. A Serbian dance company were speaking about their work, and beside Helen sat one of the panelists, a French director, who had someone translating from Serbian to French for her. Understanding almost nothing of either language, Helen took her pen and wrote what she (thought she) heard. The result is Frenglerbski, an extract of which can be found here. This text also isn’t used in the performance Unaussprechbarlich, but it represents a moment in Helen’s linguistic journey and an exploration of the mutability and creativity of language. All languages are made up, and all languages mutate over time. Frenglerbski and Helledeutsch are two languages that Helen has made up.
These are just two of the many fragments that have composted and contributed to the greater whole of Unaussprechbarlich. As it continues to marinate and evolve, it’s been great to pull back the cover and reveal a little of the mulch underneath, and of course to participate in the wonderful Biennale!