We met in the stairway

'We met in the stairway' is a work based on the Five Stages of Grief (Anger, Denial, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance) by Swiss psychologist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, established in the book 'On Death and Dying', 1969.

We met in the stairway wasn't about death though, but about liminal phases in life ("liminal" means at the threshold, in an interspace). For four of the five stages I've written a text about a fictional character, for one (Bargaining) a poem. Each text reflects on a liminal phase of the character for the respective stage of grief, which contains a mix of fictional and autobiographical elements. In the second part they all undergo a surreal experience (written in a kafkaesk, lynchian manner).

The participatory performance contained a reading of all texts to the audience, while they have been handed a performance score to do a collective action that resonates with the respective phase (for example a pillow fight during Anger).

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross mentions the butterfly repeatedly in her theory as an symbol the state someone reaches at the end of their life. This was the starting point of the butterfly becoming an important element of my art practice.