"Pain body goes bye bye. Time to stop blaming. Let’s reverse thoughts. Where Neo meets Goethe and Jesus has party with Adolf in heaven." (Die Gehängte)
A forty minute solo piece maps Silke Mansholt’s search for an ‘authentic self’ within the collective guilt and grief of German history. Die Gehängte (The Hanged Woman) represents a journey into the truth; an awakening. In Tarot, the ‘hanged man’ (upside down man) symbolises a turning around of our views, attitudes and experiences. The ‘hanged woman’ is ready to let go of her pain, leave the past behind and move on. The spectator witnesses the last encounter between the performer and the burden of her country. Symbolic actions, text directed towards the audience, live vocal sounds, chanting, rich music and subtle expressive choreography, blend into an atmospheric and moving ritual.
In general, Silke Mansholt’s work explores the fertile terrain between the visual and the performative, and is acknowledged for the uncompromising, moving and humorous exploration of life and the inner self. Inspired by the likes of Joseph Beuys and Pina Bausch, it promotes the concept of extended art (social sculpture or live event). Homage to the Heart is an exploration of identity and nationality with specific reference to German culture, through a series of expressionistic movements and iconic music (Wagner, Bach and Schönberg). In Orphan, the artist honours the spirits of the children who once frequented the charity school that originally occupied the Bluecoat Art Centre, where the work was presented. Milijana Babić
