Our collaborative performance “Subset” was an attempt to lead an unspeakable performative dialogue without losing either our individuality or our sovereignty. The challenge during the performance was to perceive the moment and thus the other, taking into account one’s own rhythm and intention, and to negotiate the necessity of the following action without any agreements.

Over the course of a week, we exchanged views and perspectives on topics that we currently held, such as labor, failing, and falling, in order to develop an understanding for each other. In addition to the conversations, we created performative situations in which theoretical considerations had been pushed into the background, and the physical relations and correlations of both our actions in space and time were explored.

Over the course of being together, various materials emerged that stimulated both or one of us to a deeper physical confrontation during our performance. We were careful not to use the materials before the performance in order to directly experience potential situations with all their possibilities and difficulties.

During the performance we were not out to solve a certain problem, to create a specific image or a particular mood, but invested ourselves in vague ideas of what we considered essential at that moment which concurrently opened up a multitude of possibilities.

The expectations each individual had of himself, as well as the expectation of working together, turned out to be the obstacles to an ephemeral collaborative work.