The starting point for the performance Shit (…) I Forgot (…) Again (…) was a specific interest in collective memory processes. Questions concerning shared memory, collective scale, and the interweaving of past, present and future formed a central starting point.

In the course of the movement research, this approach developed into a more intensive exploration of shifts and gaps in attention.

Building on experiences from the work Touch Gloves and A Farewell, in this performance I work primarily with empty spaces and spatial shifts in interpersonal gestures. Repeatedly, situations arise in which closeness is hinted at but not realized: a hug takes place at a distance, hands seem to touch, yet an actual coming together fails to materialize. Only for a brief moment do two performers hold hands in the spotlight. Yet this gesture is also interrupted, countered by a T-shirt bearing the slogan:

“Kicking and Punching is always an option. defend yourself.”

Shit (…) I Forgot (…) Again (…) explores a longing for togetherness and connection that remains illusory and must come to terms with a gap. The piece employs a significantly slowed-down pacing.

In a solo, one of the performers dances in front of a laptop to a song by Jackie Donie, whilst the other performers attempt to reach her by telephone. A standard ringtone overlaps with the silence of the hold music, with the voicemail signal. Each person stands alone, and yet the planes shift and overlap without ever fully connecting.

This creates a landscape of longing, peripheral commonality and a timing that never quite resolves itself.

The work exists both as a full-length performance and in a score-based version that can be staged with a varying number of performers depending on the space and context.

from Carla Vollmers
with Pierre-Yves Delannoy, Aurora Molinari, Lee Kern, Carla Vollmers at Zirka

with Aurora Molinari, Lee Kern,  Zahra Ghadimianazar, Mengzhen Liao, Barbara-Rosa Siévi, Josefine Simonsen, Carla Vollmers at DANCE Festival Munich 2025

with a track by Jackie Donie