On 12, 13 and 14 December, Een zwakke wind uit het zuid-westen (A light southwesterly wind) and Moeder aarde (Mother Earth) were performed. The first performance involved the installation of a heavily bolted wooden cage, above which were projected slide images of roofs crowded with chimneys and aerials. Fragments of violin music could be heard in the room itself, drowned out by traffic noise. At a certain moment yellow balloons rose up out of the cage and at the same time were shown on the projection screen above. The projected balloons became larger and larger until finally they burst beneath the monotone blare of a foghorn. Then the view of the roofs returned. In another room Moeder aarde was being shown. A girl in a fluorescent green wet suit danced in fron… of a screen showing images of meadows fading into each other. In the background, the sound of croaking frogs and singing larks could be heard. The dancer slowly extricated herself from the ground and began an elegant dance as the water dripped from her body. The cage and the projection screen served as props during the theatrical performance and were afterwards put on display.
In this compilation tape, two extremes are confronted with each other, namely, nature (in Moeder Natuur/Mother Nature) and the city (in Een zwakke zuidwestenwind/A light southwesterly wind), with a view to intensifying the everyday experience. These two performances were held in Amsterdam at De Appel, on December 12th, 13th and 14th, 1975.
In Mother Nature, Barbara Masbeck performs an austere dance, in which she appears to become absorbed by slides of landscapes that are being projected behind her. Masbeck dances to the sound of birdsong. Her movements are rigid and restrained, and represent nature in its essence, namely, as a force that man cannot really get a grip on.
The second part of this tape, the performance entitled A light southwesterly wind, revolves around urbanization. The multimedia décor consists of a wooden cabin, with above the roof slides being projected of the roofs of housing estates, topped by aerials and chimneys. The city, which originates from a (wooden) settlement, is symbolized here by a wooden cabin built on piles. Apparently the artists do not think very highly of urbanization. The images of housing estates are represented by balloon-shaped projections. Three balloons rise from the cabin and eventually burst apart. The bomb of urbanization will burst one day, the artists seem to be telling us. The title indicates that the setting is the Netherlands, because there, the prevailing wind is (light and) southwesterly.
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