Marlene Helling
Marlene Helling (09.01. – 22.01.2023)
The performer and choreographer Marlene Helling is working on the third part of the video performance “POOLS” in her residency at HELLERAU. “POOLS” negotiates the absurdity of tourism and wellness offers in places marked by ecological violence and deals with Marlene Helling’s contradictory role as a tourist and artist in these places. The Dead Sea in Israel/Palestine, the Hambacher Tagebau in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Lausitzer lignite mining area are the subjects of the research. These three places are mining areas for raw materials and, despite or because of these raw materials, tourist destinations. The geopolitical situation of Israel/Palestine and Germany is completely different, which makes the video levels less comparative than exemplary juxtaposed. The aesthetics of the video work and the performative part should on the one hand tell a connectedness of the circumstances, on the other hand the involvement of the artist in the events.