NOTHING ALMOST NOTHING
2016
Performance and Video Installation
Variable dimensions / Loop 30 minutes
In the performance that generates the video, Dias & Riedweg appear soberly dressed and covered in bizarre latex masks of themselves (which they exchange with each other throughout the performance) to read aloud five short stories by Swiss writer Robert Walser (1878-1956 ) . Throughout the reading, they show posters of their work "Big-Block", which decorates the performance scenario, with quotes from politicians and media celebrities, which in the flow of Walser's texts function as critical interrogations for current global politics. The ironic, poetic and political potential of this performance lies in the superposition of these two contexts: Walser's poetic and whimsical texts and printed quotes from our political reality, while the masks at the same time neutralize this contradiction and reinforce the existential void generated between the two contents .
Today, we're going to have to settle for absolutely nothing, aren't we? Absolutely nothing is the fastest to prepare and, in any case, it does not cause indigestion.
excert from “nichts gar nichts”, Robert walser, in short stories
Performances and Installations: VERBO Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo 2016 (photos © Eduardo Fraipont); Paço das Artes, São Paulo (photos © Ana Alexandrino), 2016; 24 Hours Performance Festival, Zurich, 2017 (photos © Christian Glaus, Thomas Zirlewagen, Urs Schmid); Art Yourself Festival, Sursee, Suíça (photos© W. Mathis), 2018; “Puzzle” by Felipe Hirsch, Theater SESC Villa Mariana, São Paulo, 2016.