Performance/Installation

The country is at a standstill, nothing is done, and no one is in charge. Everyone is waiting in a state of cultural torpor and political stagnation. It is a CinemaScope spectacle of imminent national decline.
In a bunker somewhere in an unnamed city (Rome? Constantinople? Vienna? It doesn’t matter, because it keeps happening everywhere, after all) a crowd has gathered in anxious anticipation of the arrival of some (also unnamed) “barbarians.”

The culture of fear replaced the optimism that was once this city’s leading frame of mind. The barbarians, the crowd is being told, are in a position to take over the country and loot what they wish and want.
Things have moved past the stage of discussion or debate. The political will of the citizens has been so atrophied by sloth, luxury, and complacency that they can only hope for disaster as a means of renewing the state. In the air, some perverse yearning for a violent crisis might break the deadlock and reinvigorate the state.

Waiting for the Barbarians is a performance/installation that takes place in a real bunker. Deep down, under a playground, the public is confronted with fear. The fear of the other. It is an ironic take on a „know your enemy“ training camp. Who are the barbarians? Why are we so afraid of their arrival? Why do we need the imaginary barbarians to define our own goodness/culture/identity? How would we define ourselves if the barbarians did not exist any longer? And finally, why are we waiting instead of rebuilding this paranoid empire we call home?

The performance/installation Waiting for the Barbarians turns the bunker’s many rooms into a labyrinth of fear. We call it the AAF, the Austrian Archive of Fear. A rollercoaster of sounds, images, and live actions takes the public on a ride inside the absurd paranoia that, unfortunately, became the prevailing discourse of our time.

Artistic contributions by and with: Barca Baxant, BitteBitteJaJa, Vladimir Cabak, Shabnam Chamani, Tom Crawley, Nina Fog, Susanne Gschwendtner, Paul Horn, nurarchitektur (Peter Leeb + Christina Condak), Robert Pfaller, Roland Rauschmeier, Florian Tröbinger, Peter Stamer, Michael Strohmann, Yosi Wanunu, Charlotte Zorell
Room Design: Paul Horn
Assistant Room Design: Roland Schmidt
Production assistant: Charlotte Zorell
Written and directed by Yosi Wanunu
Translated by Friederike Kulcsar
Concept and Realisation: Yosi Wanunu, Paul Horn, Peter Stamer, Michael Strohmann
Produced by Kornelia Kilga

Co-produced by Volkskundemuseum Vienna/ April 29 – May 12, 2024