Photo by Achim Espelage
As far as I can carry, as long as I can hold
6 hours
With Michael(a) Daoud
At STAMP Festival, Hamburg as part of altonale
2022
As far as I can carry, as long as I can hold took place at Hamburg, Platz der Republik, in front of the “Black Form – Dedicated to the Missing Jews” on July 2. It has been such an honor and a privilege to have been able to create solitary bonds and alliances between the past and today struggles against fascism, racism, xenophobia and cis-heteropatriarchy.
While designing the performance we intended to dig into our own notion of intimacy as two Queers from the Global South. Starting from questioning how we can overcome the fear of being intimate with others, especially in the time of post-covid and step over virtual love behind device screens. To further question queer intimacy, vulnerability, strength, communication and power dynamics.
For 6 hours, we held the glass panel by almost never putting it to the ground, we listened each other’s bodies through the delicate glass and we listened the delicate glass through each other’s bodies. We took care of the glass, we tried and did and sometimes couldn’t take care of each other. Working with a delicate, fragile material as two bodies, opened us up for a practice of deep listening and served us to deepen on different layers of intimacy.
Photo by the artist