White chairs made of steel are mounted on buildings at a height between four and six meters around Brunnsbotorget, Göteborg. People between the ages of 68 and 85 years old sit on the chairs high above the passers by.

They perform rehearsed, everyday activities in a reserved manner: they read the paper, cut vegetables, listen to the radio… Activities that have to do with their daily lives. By relocating the everyday experience from private to public space, the viewer is able to actually see an experienced moment of time – an individual story inscribed in the body engages in a dialogue with the respective façade.

x-times people chair is being realized as a guest performance. So far, X-times people chair has been performed in 34 cities in 16 countries in Europe as well as in North and South America. As a part of Gothenburg’s dance and theater festival 2021-2022, the work was shown for the first time in Sweden.

Concept and realisation: Angie Hiesl
Realisation since 2001: in collaboration with Roland Kaiser
Costumes and props: Roland Kaiser
Management: Ruth Suerman
Technical director: Lutz Dunsing

Performance: Birgitta Altermann, Walter Cadek, Josef Geiser, Ralf Harster, Hedda Kage, Elke Mirschinka, Elfie Schalk, Gerhard Schrempf, Katharine Sehnert, Edeltraud Sonneck, Bert Voiss

Press

“While Christo, the Bulgarian pop artist, wraps buildings in white, Hiesl, from Cologne, aims to intrigue onlookers by displaying people in pursuit of “ordinary life in an extraordinary way.” The Daily Telegraph

x-times people chair was presented in collaboration with Bostadsbolaget and Community center Brunnsbo.