Aquanitas 2

Procedure
In the space stands a transparent coffin half filled with water. I enter the water dressed in a white dress. The audience puts stones on and next to my body and beside and scatters petals in the water.
On top of the water the assistant pours hot wax until the whole surface is covered. While the wax hardens I lay still in the water. Finally I get up and break though the layer of wax and petals.
 
Concept
For this variation of the performance „Aquanitas“ I use stones from the river “Isar” in Munich.
In ancient times the gravel plain around Munich offered resistance to civilizing processes, because it`s soil was not nutritious.
The “Isar”, whose name comes from Indo Germanic "eis=tearing" (1),  managed to create a bed through the barren lands, thus creating a basis for human settlement. The water and the earth, which the river brought with it, provided the basis for the cycle of life.
Mankind affects by its increasing knowledge about natural, technical and chemical processes the natural cycle of life in order to rampantly (ab)use it for its needs.
Are envy, hubris and greed (2) stronger than the forces of the elements? Will man conquer nature and thus create his own grave? Or he is able to wake up from the self-destructive "Snow White" -sleep and repeat the process of creation again and again in harmony with nature?












June 2016
in the frame of the exhibition
"Drawing in Stone"
from Roni ben Ari
Künstlerhaus, Munich

Pics: Anina Stolz, Monika Bacher