Interdisciplinary Performance (DE)
The Matter of Burden

An examination of the abstract concept of burden

History is heavy. It weighs on things, on bodies, on spaces – and sometimes on ourselves. But what happens when we make this weight tangible? When we ask ourselves how much burden a memory carries – and who carries it?

The performance invites the audience not only to look at history, but to feel it. The starting point is the work of Ibrahim Mahama, whose sculptures, photographs, and installations shed light on the material legacy of colonialism, postcolonialism and industrialization in Ghana. The headpans, those bowls worn on the head, are particularly central: they are symbols of work, burden and survival. What do materials tell us when we listen to them? How much weight rests on our own shoulders?

As her final project for her Master of Arts Education degree at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna, Sarah Machač developed an interdisciplinary performance with people aged 25 to 71, with and without artistic background, from students to retirees, which will be presented as part of the exhibition Ibrahim Mahama: Zilijifa.

Project management: Sarah Machač

With: Marianne Bäck, Inéz Krebs, Monika Volk, Suzana Marinkovic, Media Gharizadeh Bonab

Project support: Michaela Lankes, Martin Walkner (Kunsthalle Wien), Edith Wregg (MUK Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna)

A collaboration between Kunsthalle Wien and MUK – Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna.

The performance is free with a valid exhibition ticket.
Every Thursday from 17:00–20:00: Pay what you can!