The Monuments | Chapter 13 | Fragments of Us
Kühlhaus Berlin
13.01.2025
Site-specific Installation and durational performance
In Chapter 13, Fragments of Us, the performance explored the relationship between the performing body, space, and the remnants of history. The industrial setting of Kühlhaus Berlin was transformed into a stage for fragmented memories and enigmatic encounters. The work served as a live investigation into what the body remembered, what it carried, and how it navigated the ghosts of history. Audiences were invited to navigate this evocative landscape, witnessing performers engage in repetitive gestures and movements that hinted at forgotten histories and unspoken truths. Through this ephemeral installation, the project explored the beauty of the human form in a powerful dialogue with the weight of the past. The work was a tangible experience of how the body functioned as an archive, carrying and embodying the subtle echoes of past subjects.
From the Script: A Coda on Memory The scent of stale air defined the setting of a well-known room. It was a space where the past penetrated the present like a gentle needle, pushing through the fabric of our current reality to show how easily it could be pierced. Here, history's patterns returned, bringing with them a feeling of tension and a palpable atmosphere of an unfinished process. This chapter acknowledged a central and urgent question: How could society ignore what was happening? It was an attempt to find a common language for the in-between, for those moments of acute realization that simply faded away. The work posited that the search for meaning and conviction often occurred silently, within individuals, while the shared experience remained defined by the lingering spectre of decay and an abandoned vision. The title of the chapter and the themes explored within it were inspired in part by quotes from George Santayana, Karl Marx, and Sydney J. Harris, and fragments of a script written in anticipation of the performance.
Project by: JAŠA
Production: WE.ARE Institute
Performance concept with: Mattias Gimigliano
Sound and music with: Mario Babojelič
Performance by: Gáspár Bálint-Hazai, Irene Ambrogi, Jillian May, John Phele, Mattias Gimigliano, Laura DeAngelis and Vincent Schneider
Lighting with: Luka Gyoha
Technical support: Denis Metting
Installation and sculptural works with: Irene Ambrogi and Lorenzo Fasi
Text editing by: Noah Charney
Cover photo with: Primož Korošec
Design and Communications: Rosa Lux
Supported by: Kühlhaus Berlin
Enabled by: The Monuments Patrons Club
Special thanks to: Andrea Wenzler, Dieter Siegel, Saša Šavel, Griša Šoba & Franci Zavrl