AUSTRIAN PREMIERE

These noises simply don’t belong together: The metallic rain generated by the electrically amplified needles of 40-odd knitters from the Krems area incessantly bombards the audience, who are invited to pass through this social plastic. The contingent sound of handcraft competes with the sonic walls of the post-punk band Friends of Gas, who are cooperating here for the first time with Oreet Ashery, the artist behind Passing through Metals. Ashery – who won the 2017 Derek Jarman Award for her web series Revisiting Genesis about death, its administration, and its exploitation in the digital realm – also views the undermining of social security and the erosion of the welfare state as a form of death. Passing through Metals literally knits together the attested, self-sufficient placidity of textile work with unexpected outbursts of fierce, demanding music. According to Ashery, it creates an experience of “collective uncertainty and a foreboding sense of the ephemeral”.

Live act: Friends of Gas
Knitters: woll.werk
Wool: Mealana / Lana Grossa

Passing through Metals was originated in collaboration with and produced by Lilith Performance Studio, Malmö, Sweden in 2017. 

Homepage