2010-2013

Book, 12 x 19 cm, 101 p, language: German, publisher: Self-published, ISBN: N/A.
Materials:

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. B 2026/21).

Literary synopsis

Locked into her own memories, the protagonist disappears in an inner exile, circulating around the patio of a house. The house stands in a highly demanded building zone of the city centre and remains as fallow land that nobody dares to enter. Whilst the protagonist pupates in the rhythm of her steps the house surrounding her/him slowly moulders. Sole point of reference in the midst of sandstone, decay and dissociate madness is a stuffed cat, companion of the protagonist. While she pupates, the house surrounding her/him slowly moulders The novel describes the inner exile as standstill and a form of (artistic) protest to replace the obsessive pursuit of success in this the Calvinist and capitalist city by evasion and gradual dissolution. Several parallel narratives playfully accompany and pervade the main text. Title pages and subtitles seem to comment the story and to give advices of reading. Short poems and lyrics arise from the protagonist’s mantric delirium, the memorised voices and conversations. Lines from her former note books are cited, and the back side of the book tells us about three authors who wrote the text collectively. Story line and memory of the protagonist cannot be distinguished – there is no before and after: the passages of the novel are no linear narrative. Four small signs replace the page numbers emphasizing the readers act of turning the pages. The novel can be red from the beginning to the end, but the interwoven structure of parallel narratives allows the reader to freely jump, skip and browse while reading.

Relation of the novel to the artist’s practice

The novel has a status of in-between. It is based on notes that accompanied Romy Rüegger’s artistic practice. She started to bring these notes in an order and found that they were connected in a very narrative way. These notes were re-written and extended to build the base of the novel. When the novel was in an already quiet advanced status she started to use excerpts out of it as parts of performances. This again influenced the writing: a lot of the text has been reformulated, shortened and extended after being used in performances (reading out loud, getting comments by the spectators).The novel has been used as part of five performative readings in 2011 and 2012 at Cité des Arts (translated by Lucia Schreyer) in Paris, at Perla Moda in Zurich, at Plattfon Stampa in Basel (translated by Lucia Schreyer), at Vebikus Schaffhouse and for the evening This Book by Veronika Spierenburg at Corner College in Zurich.