For DIE IRRITIERTE STADT I would like to invite people to dress up as slugs and crawl into the public space. The slugs costumes are to be sewn from old knitted clothing. Passers-by will make the irritating observation that people in knitted costumes crawl through the city and leave wet traces on the ground with their wet underside.

Excursus 1

That there are not only two sexes, but many, is a thesis that I examine in my work in many different ways. In the animal kingdom as well as among humans, there are the most different genders and ways of life. With the difference that humans appear more tolerant towards animals than towards their fellow humans.

Snails are simultaneous hermaphrodites. They have female and male sexual organs. During sexual intercourse both sexual organs can be used simultaneously. In special extreme situations the snail can also fertilise itself. Those who do not fit into the categories “man” or “woman” in society will be noticed, if not even fall out.

A never-ending accumulation of human snails crosses public space, surprisingly appearing again and again on pavements and streets. Through their slow progress, they take up space and time for themselves and in their own way stretch the urban concept of time with its high pulse.

Excursus 2

The snail has acquired different meanings in different periods of time and different cultures. It stands for slowness par excellence, especially in a capitalist society, also called acceleration society, where time is money and every minute must be used “better”. It is also consumed as a delicacy, but it also causes disgust with its slippery surface and the trail of slime it leaves behind. In architecture, the shape of the snail shell has been used repeatedly for centuries. Furthermore, the snail was considered ” not only as a symbol of qualities as difficult to reconcile as laziness, vanity, lust and the immaculate conception, but also as a sign of the resurrection”.

Quotes Excursus 1 and 2 from: Schnecken. Ein Portrait von Florian Werner, Reihe: Naturkunden Bd. 020, Matthes & Seitz, Berlin, 2015.