‣THREE QUESTIONS TO ANNA TILL

You’ve been in Chemnitz (travelling) for a few weeks now:
What are your impressions of the city? Did you notice anything in particular? Why? What differences do you see compared to your home cities of Dresden and Hamburg, for example?

Anna: “For me, Chemnitz is all about having lots of space. Wide streets, big houses, few people. That leaves a lot of space. I’m quite impressed by all the different cultural initiatives that use this space to shape the diverse subculture and always seek a strong connection to the urban society of Chemnitz. In contrast to Dresden, which has been almost completely renovated to death in recent years and mainly maintains its baroque heritage, stylistic breaks are visible in Chemnitz. I am reminded much more of the GDR past by certain buildings or monuments from that time. I enjoy that in a strange way. There is not one image, one aesthetic of Chemnitz. Chemnitz is like a jigsaw puzzle in which individual pieces have been lost over time and replaced by new ones. A cluster without a centre.”

As part of the 2020 Von Sinnen dialogue fields, you are focusing on the sense of touch: are there any impressions that you draw from the Sonnenberg in particular? What are they specifically? How are these reflected in your work?

Anna: “Touch is the sense that locates me in the world. By taking in information through touch, I recognise the temperature of a surface, feel whether it is soft or hard and at what distance I am from an object. This is initially independent of the exact surroundings. I use touch to relate my body to its surroundings. That is crucial for me. Moving the body into the centre, so to speak, and positioning it. In this case in Sonnenberg. Where do I walk past quickly? Where do I want to linger? Which surface structures have I perhaps never noticed before? Which corners and edges offer space for the body to adapt and hide in? Which surfaces are wide and large so that they can be used as a stage?”

Can you give us a small preview of the work in progress? What can visitors to the presentation week from 31 October to 6 November look forward to?

Anna: “I want to try something at DIALOGFELDER that I’ve never done before. Normally, my work is characterised by minimalism, precision and artistic dialogue; I also mainly produce pieces for the (theatre) stage. This time I’m going into the urban space and working intensively with a special material: foam. I’ve basically looked for an oversized costume as a performance partner. The object consists of different polygonal shapes (conception and construction: Tobias Eisenkrämer) and is a bit bigger than me. I am inside the object, so my body disappears almost completely, but moves the material from the inside. There are also several holes that I use to give the foam creature arms, legs and a head. In this way, I feel the city, the Sonnenberg.”