It is your Birthday

The gallery’s white cube is transformed into an eerie and seemingly private space by a rug, a curtain, and marks on the walls or furniture. The three figures in the room, who are part of Johannes Hoffmann’s performance, complete the picture. Wrapped in fabric, they appear like ghosts from another world. Playing the guitar, they pass on a handful of notes, creating a loop that compresses and stretches time.

A threshold state in which, for a brief moment, the past is irrelevant and the future has not yet begun—a constantly recurring “now” in which everything suspended in a fragile balance. The work itself also exists in an in-between state: between event and non-event, the presence and absence of bodies, concert and sound installation. As part of the exhibition, the sound of the performance is now integrated into the installation.

- Amelie Gappa, Kuratorin des La Felce

The guitars are tuned to the notes D, E, A, D, E, A. The only rule for the performers was to play their first note in sync with the last note played by the person before them throughout the performance. This resulted in a subtle loop of communication in which the three performers began to engage in an emotional exchange—beyond mere timing—through their playing intensity and rhythm.