we hear same / 2012 / Exhibition and performance in collaboration with Robert Snyderman / Presented at De Kijkdoos, Amsterdam (NL)
Working with the poet Robert Snyderman, an exhibition and performance was conceived around the biblical story of Jacob and Essau. The show included works by: Gediminas G. Akstinas, Rūtenė Merkliopaitė, Gerda Paliušyte, Jurgis Paškevicius, and Ray Ray Mitrano.
De Kijkdoos is an outdoor display case connected to a building in the former Jewish quarter of Amsterdam. Different objects were placed in the vitrines: disguized wine bottles, cups, two wine bottles connected by a single cork, and 8 pages containing a typed poem by Snyderman entitled, “Borrow”. At the opening, a performance in 3 movements was told at different locations throughout the building and surrounding area. First, Jurgis Paškevicius warmed us up next to the vitrine; Second, we entered the building and went to the roof where a specific weaving cheers gesture was enacted; Third, we left the building, crossed the street and went behind a monument where a recorded story from Ray Ray Mitrano was played.
In an essay about the exhibition, Eveline Nieuweld wrote:
“Bernstein works with objects as if they are words and with words as if they are objects. He removes functions, extends them, rotates them, pulls them out, until a whole is created in which stories are written and rewritten in the head while watching the work.”
Find the full essay here
