collective performance, 22 min

The collective performance directed by Barbora Kleinhamplová and prepared especially for NARRACJE, represents a shelter in a not-so-distant future, where large parts of the city are already submerged by the rising seas. A former school gym becomes a refuge for those who don’t have anywhere to go to or need to find a way to adapt to the current situation. The gym acts as a simulator for future scenarios, which might actually arrive if we continue to function as a growth-driven society. In this simultaneously realistic and surreal setting, both people and water beings are resting, worrying, contemplating or planning, with the help of a public radio which announces the latest news in real estate and bank loans, broadcasts breathing exercises, or promotes transformation into fish. Mortgages become expensive and unstable, just as large housing development projects that are currently under water up to the 10th floor. One can choose to access the water-level flats with a canoe, learn to breathe underwater and move into one of the more affordable apartments, or go for the expensive top floors, which, however, have a similarly unclear future as all the rest. Barbora Kleinhamplová presents an unsettling dystopian scenario, yet one that is to a large extent based on what is already happening: new building projects are being placed in zones which, according to NASA, will have been flooded with seawater by 2080, and finding affordable housing in large European cities is problematic even today, when we are still on dry lands. Kleinhamplová approaches the topic with considerable imagination, combining dark visions with a sense of absurdity and humour, which is typical for her practice. The performance is partly inspired by Stanisław Lem’s Star Diaries, particularly ‘The 13th Voyage’.