Berlin Bombing

Wedding is a suburb of Berlin known for its Turkish population (which is actually only about 30%). We sat on a particular wall of Wedding every day for one week from 4-11th May, and constructed a Wall Embassy. The concept was to create a space that did not exist within national structures. Our research centred on 'Statelessness', which is a term denoting both people who have no nationality and are therefore not protected by international law, and the utopian idea of people who are free to float between national borders with relative freedom, such as I was doing on my way over to Berlin from Australia (although it was not as easy as this sounds).

People could join us on the wall by climbing the ladder and passing a simple test, which most artists failed. The test was as follows:

1) Think of an 'apple' and say 'banana'
2) Think of 'Europe' and say 'Egypt'
3) Think of a 'Beggar' and say 'Businessman'

Performances in Bucharest

In Bucharest, I found a generous and engaged arts community. I made two performances, both to full houses, one in an abandoned building which has been turned into an arts space called Carol 53, and the other in the Apartment Theatre of my host, Lorin, called Lorgean Theatre.

http://lorgeantheatre.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/un-australian-la-lorgean/
http://casacarol53.wordpress.com/

Photos from the performance of People Spoke in Carol 53 were taken by Ana-Maria Iordache, who was also my host along with her sister Roxana.

"The most dangerous forms of oppression are created by shaking hands" Interview with Cristina Toderas

As part of my performances in Bucharest, I was interviewed by journalist Cristina Toderas. The full interview can be found using the link below (Romanian).

http://totb.ro/cele-mai-periculoase-forme-de-opresiune-sunt-create-prin-strangeri-de-maini/

”Cele mai periculoase forme de opresiune sunt create prin strângeri de mâini” _

A translation with Google Translate (and some grammatical corrections) follows.

"The most dangerous forms of oppression are created by shaking hands"

People Spoke is the performance that Richard Pettifer aims to discuss individual freedom and its limits. The show is part of Global Warming tour, which began on 1 January 2013 and will be completed when the artist will comes to Berlin, where he will join other artists who protest against unsustainable methods used by governments. During the tour, departing from central Australia to Darwin, then across the Timor Sea to Indonesia, stopping in Java and Sumatra Islands, then in Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Myanma, Northern India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey to Europe Richard preferred to travel by bus or train. A plane used only twice since the beginning of the challenge, when it was absolutely necessary. The only way to leave Australia is flying, and the artist needed artificial wings to cross Myanmar.