Can a dilapidated staircase be a monument? In the sudden emptiness during the pandemic the qualities of everyday gathering places become apparent: What potential do niches, corners or gaps have in the midst of increasing gentrification? What effects do privatisation and commercialisation have on public space? SKILLS are creating a performative monument to the harbour staircase in Hamburg’s St. Pauli district.
The police classification as a ‘dangerous zone’ or ‘Hamburg’s worst dealer hangout’ is countered by a kaleidoscope of sounds and voices. Interviews with users and neighbours of the staircase are transformed into songs and tracks that ask what dangers this supposedly dangerous place actually harbours and what the decades of struggles and conflicts surrounding the staircase are really about.
Well, uhm, this is steps
That people always sit on
Ever since I've known St. Pauli
We've been sitting on the harbour steps
„Dealing takes place at the Balduintreppe in Hamburg. And that is why it has a reputation for being dangerous. The performance group SKILLS reinterprets the location. For many, the place is much more than the ‘eyesore of Hamburg’ conjured up by the media.“ watch ARTE TRACKS report
„between performance, electronic, often rhythmic and equally often noisy sound art and contemporary choreography’
‘Works such as ’Arien aus Stein‘ also serve as a contribution to a living archive that thwarts the perhaps greatest ally of ’social upgrading‘ – oblivion.“ AFRICAN PAPER (21.09.2020)
Project website with an archive of the interviews used: ARIEN AUS STEIN
Credits:
concept, performance, music: SKILLS (aka Camilla Milena Fehér und Sylvi Kretzschmar)
performance: Bakary Trawally
composition: Camilla Milena Féher
composition Ouvertüre: Martina Claussen
dramaturgy: Sibylle Peters
costume and set design: Patrizia Ruthensteiner
production management: ehrliche arbeit - freies Kulturbüro
photos: Patrizia Ruthensteiner, Christoph Twickel, Sibylle Peters
Funded by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the
Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V.
