video installation for 20 viewers
Which deaths and which births have influenced and changed my life so far? Who have I welcomed, who have I lost and said farewell to – and what has happened to me in the process?
Mats Staub’s artistic projects take us on a journey to the four corners of the world, inviting us to take time to listen and watch. Without resorting to simple spectacle, Mats Staub has over the years developed an exceptionally coherent poetry that gives us portraits of intense humanity. With refined delicacy and meticulous formal rigour, his works explore our most intimate and personal dimension, confronting us with the multilayered complexity of our time.
In the long-term project Death and Birth in My Life people talk to each other about their experiences of birth and death – they are filmed both talking and listening, so you can see both the narrating and listening faces on two monitors at the same time. As a video installation in theatre spaces, it creates a communal, immersive experience. Siting in small circles you will have the impression of being with the participants – a small group of strangers who meet to listen to stories, in a suspended time where you can allow yourself to reflect on endings and new beginnings.
So far, Mats Staub has recorded 85 conversations in Europe and Africa and for each local installation he then makes a specific selection of films that create connections for the viewers to different regions of the world. With his work, he wants to create a space that enables empathy, participation and connection and encourages and frames talking about one’s own experiences. A place that allows painful feelings and talking about things that are otherwise excluded, and in the best case also offers the experience of consolation.
video installation for 20 viewers
with Sharon & Hlengiwe, Ahmed & Basso, Erika & Charlotte, Avril & Eric, Giovanna & Jana, Fabrizio & Ambra, Elena & Elisabetta, Massimo & Diego
idea, concept, direction Mats Staub
camera Benno Seidel
scenography Monika Schori
dramaturgical associate Simone von Büren, Elisabeth Schack
translation, subtitles Simona Weber, Cinzia Schincariol, Matthias Stickel
technical direction Hanno Sons, Bert Günther
production management Pearl Herbert, Barbara Simsa
production zwischen_produktionen; Co-production: Kaserne Basel, SICK! Festival Manchester, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt, Festival Theaterformen Hannover, Festival der Regionen, Spielart Festival Munich, Centre culturel suisse Paris, Migros-Kulturprozent, Dublin Theatre Festival, zona_k Milan, Mittelfest2022
Funding: Fachausschuss Tanz und Theater BS/BL, Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council, Christoph Merian Stiftung, Ernst Göhner Stiftung
presented by Aurora Nova
duration 90 min
videos in Italian, English, German with Italian subtitles
Mats Staub lives and works in Berlin. He studied theatre science, journalism and religious studies in Bern, Fribourg and Berlin. Since 2004 he has been developing his own artistic projects that combine the codes of theatre and art, literature and science. His long-term projects have been presented among others at the Festival of the Arts Ruhrtriennale, Wiener Festwochen, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt, Adelaide Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 2020 he is honoured with the Swiss Theatre Award. All his works are distinguished by the patient and caring attention they pay to people. They are concerned with life’s fundamental issues in a communal context.