f(un)eral
It’s difficult to think about death without eliciting a complex emotional response. f(un)eral is a participatory experience modelled loosely on the western archetype of a funeral and designed to stimulate dialogue surrounding the topic of death.
Those in attendance are invited to take part in a variety of ways from simply observing, to participating in the writing of a personal eulogy, which a then eventually be read aloud to the audience as its author lies in a coffin. This performance piece is created as a space for individuals and communities to reflect, feel and connect around the topic of death and explore it in the presence of sharp contrasts.
f(un)eral is an interdisciplinary work, combining audiovisual, performative and ritual elements.
Presented in Riga, Stockholm, and Berlin, 2016 - 2018
participatory performance and audio-visual installation exploring death and its meanings. Co-created with Lindsay Tingstrom and Ints Ivanovskis
“When message is so pure, it hits you straight in heart. I got a once in a lifetime opportunity to realise how sad it is to lose friends without actually losing them.”
audience reflections
“I walked into the f(un)eral slightly skeptical. I sat down, started observing and thinking of the task (my eulogy), yet my mind was elsewhere ....slowly I transformed.... whilst thinking of my funeral, I had received the much needed space to reflect on my life values. Worries about work was replaced with: What is real? What is important to me? What have I disregarded living this routine? If I carry on like this, will anyone even show up to my funeral? This realizing what routine does to ones’ soul, that made it special. Thank you for that special hour or slowing down enough to realize that.”