Blooming, while we are sinking


video installation by:
Edda Akkermann & John Sturgeon

Blooming, while we are sinking - is a video installation, with sculptural elements, sound and spoken text. The installation displays two tapes, one for large scale video projection on a hanging wall-like screen in the rear of the gallery. The other tape emanates from a monitor at the bottom of a well, built in a mound of sand, in the center of the gallery.

The video projection features two actors, who portray with movement and dance the eternal male/female dynamic of enticement and rejection, approach and distance, submission and power. With mime-like characterization, the performers explore the cyclical change and inherent tension in these archetypal polarities.

A circular tower, a subterranean stone labyrinth, the ruins of the Anasazi in the vast desert of the American Southwest frames the psychological scenario, in which the actors are isolated and relate in the same recurring pattern. Climbing the mound of sand, stones and plants reveals the view in a circular well. Beneath the watery undercurrent, floating and twisting the couple recites the text:


and these are the stones
that we hold,
while we are sinkin g...
und diese sind die Steine,
die wir halten,
während wir untergehen...

flowers are everywhere,
spread out
for this occasion
but, only in the mind
Blumen sind überall,
ausgebreitet
für diese Gelegenheit,
aber nur in den Gedinken


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