ERSAN MONDTAG
De Living, 2019
In a doubling of reality and almost without text, Ersan Mondtag's play “De Living” tells a private story of despair that is intertwined with a historical one.
The suicide of a woman in her kitchen is also a story about the liberation from the trauma caused by the atrocious regime of the Belgian King Leopold II in the Congo. The events leading up to the moment when the lonely woman sticks her head into the gas stove developed with the twins Doris and Nathalie Bokongo Nkumu into an unfolding of history in parallel universes.
The synchronicity of their imprisonment in fear and depression dissolves into two possible outcomes in the course of the performance. One fatal and one optimistic. In addition to the systematic mirroring and the breaking of patterns, the use of smells is an impressive artistic effect, olfactorily guiding the reception of this silent double story.
The suicide of a woman in her kitchen is also a story about the liberation from the trauma caused by the atrocious regime of the Belgian King Leopold II in the Congo. The events leading up to the moment when the lonely woman sticks her head into the gas stove developed with the twins Doris and Nathalie Bokongo Nkumu into an unfolding of history in parallel universes.
The synchronicity of their imprisonment in fear and depression dissolves into two possible outcomes in the course of the performance. One fatal and one optimistic. In addition to the systematic mirroring and the breaking of patterns, the use of smells is an impressive artistic effect, olfactorily guiding the reception of this silent double story.
Written & Directed by Ersan Mondtag
Stage & Costum Design by Ersan Mondtag
Installation view: ‘De Living’, NT Gent, 2019.
Courtesy of the Artist and PİLEVNELİ
Photo: Birgit Hupfeld
