Privat

Created by Kira Alker, Elke Luyten, Katharina Hinsberg and Oswald Egger

Performed by Elke Luyten and Sammy the pony

Performed at: Insel Hombroich, Germany

2015

Story: during the International Fellowship Program in 2012 at the Raketenstation Hombroich the former director, Rose Ulrike, asked us to find a way to connect all the buildings and exhibition places of the disperse grounds of the Insel Hombroich Museum. Somehow I started thinking about my childhood. I grew up in a small village on a horse farm. When I was very little I got my first white pony. I instantly hated my pony. Unfortunately I continued to ride horses until I was 18 years old. This personal connection with horses was the starting point for this project.

Privat examines the relationship between institutions and choreography. Privat was a collaboratively-staged intervention at the Raketenstation Hombroich in Germany; it was created as a response to censorship. The Museum Insel Hombroich had vetoed our first performance proposal at the galleries of the museum: the original idea was to offer free pony rides for children at the museum, through the multiple buildings, spread throughout nature. The performer, Elke Luyten would guide the pony rides while being naked. We were intrigued by stigmatization of the nude body in contrast with the childish appeal of pony rides. We were curious to see if children would still want to ride the little white pony.

This administration rejected the piece due to the complexity and difficulty of having a live animal in the gallery spaces. But, it stirred conflict amongst the administration. During our meetings with the museum, it became clear that they struggled with their mission statement and their commitment to artists. These discussions brought the internal politics of the Foundation to the surface. It was then that the artist-in-residence at the nearby Raketenstation, the poet, Oswald Egger, opened up his private studio so that the performance could still happen. Egger’s private studio however is extremely messy, revealing the intensely personal remnants of his life and work. The revelation of personal space and interior landscape itself became an empowering and political act. He had never opened up his private studio even though his studio is on the grounds of the Insel Hombroich Foundation. He never trusted the director nor the administrators of the Foundation to enter his creative space.

Luyten, naked, and the pony inhabited the studio. The audience was not allowed to enter Egger's studio and could only see the performance through the open door. When the audience tried to enter the studio Luyten would say: “Privat”. The delimitations of private space (performers) and public space (audience) mirrored the distinction between personal artistic freedom and censored curated event. Whereas pony rides were not allowed on the grounds of the museum, only inches away in a private work space, the pony and it’s naked leader were available for all to see.

During our discussions with Egger, we would often came back to the writings of Gilles Deleuze. Egger understood the strong value of a horse within an artistic setting and he came up with his proposition: "What is a studio without a pony?". This performance was significant for the Insel Hombroich Foundation because it encouraged this community to think about their engagement and support for artists. What does it mean as a Foundation to support artists? What kind of commitment is required from the foundation?