Category Archives: Hands

Hugs, fabrics, moss, … haptic experiences!

Does it dance ?

After last year’s pandemic (out)break, 2021 was again an Impulstanz year! The legacy of founder Ismael Ivo lives on. “Does it dance?” is not the question here – it does!

The weekend started with ALEXANDRA BACHZETSIS / Private Song, by whom I was rewarded to assist in opening the zipper of the latex dress during the performance 🙂

We continued with TRAJAL HARRELL / Maggie The Cat, by which we were unanimously underwhelmed. Maybe having read “Cat on a hot tin roof” would have helped. Maybe not. In the meantime we’ll practise our duck-walk …

The anti-climax came in the very end and was provided by MEG STUART / DAMAGED GOODS, supposedly one of the prime performances of the festival. Also the first ever Impulstanz performance I had to leave before the end, because it was so unbearably banal.

Funnily, others felt the same way apparantly (only I don’t stay until the end to “buh” them – the dancers are not responsible for bad choreography or lack of inspiration by the choreographer):

Interesting audience reactions and their re-interpretation through the press 🙂

Not surprisingly, the highlight was to be found in what Impulstanz calls “[8:tension] Young Choreographers’ Series”, this time sampled through SOPHIA RODRÍGUEZ / Ostentation Project. 1,5h of pure fabulousness from 23:00-0:30 at Schauspielhaus, complete with life size inflatable jumping castle (with bunny head!) in the end (it’s in the golden bag, believe it or not 😉 ):

Category “hands” to stand for “legs/feet” in this case.

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Brains, Eyes, Hands

Hats, Hats, Hats !

Meine Güte, was für Hüte!

Nicht nur das Tragen, auch das Anfertigen von Hüten ist ein großartiges haptisches Erlebnis, wie ich seit einiger Zeit selbst bezeugen kann.

Wenngleich der Filzhut ja eher ein klassischer Winterhut ist, wie uns Massimiliano damals im Sommer erklärte, als wir seine Werkstatt besuchen durften, und momentan ja nun wirklich keine Wintertemperaturen herrschen, habe ich nun endlich die Zeit gefunden ein bisschen den mad hatter raushängen zu lassen! Diverse frühere Akquisitionen haben die initiale Kollektion von Urgroßvater Johanns Hüten anwachsen lassen, und naja, nun sieht sie so aus:

So. Many. Hats. Latest addition and self-made: black wool-felt with altrosa hat band, amber vintage belt buckle and pink ostrich feather flower. Petruzzo Hats 2021.

Filz, Shellack, blauer Architektenhartschaum, lederne Schweißbänder aus NYC, Deko aus diversen etsy-Untiefen und Straußenfedern aus Großbritannien, ein paar Stunden youtube und Arbeit, und schon kann man sich wieder zeigen im Adlon! Vergessen Pandemie und jogging Hosen! Karl Lagerfeld, du darfst wieder stolz sein. Und Josef und Barbara sowieso:

Great-grandmother Barbara, who was Modistin in Vienna
Great-grandfather Josef, who was a tailor

Man muss nicht unbedingt von der rohen Alpaca Wolle starten, obwohl, es geht schon auch: enjoy …

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Brains, Eyes, Hands, Heart, Life, the universe & everything

Veronica, Hanami & Co

Jetzt ist er da.

Little forrest of moss, lilac, wisteria, peione, almond, Fukubana cherry, maple, magnolia, lily of the valley, akleia, chess flower, anemone with its friends gingko and the japanese larch.

“Nose” category for double smell: wisteria and lilac, “Ears” for all the birdies and “Hands” for all the planting and soil digging action!

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Ears, Eyes, Hands, Heart, Life, the universe & everything, Nose

Ruby Slippers everywhere

We all known the magic Ruby Slippers which transport Dorothy – who’s been ignorant of their magic powers while wearing them for the better part of her journey – back home at the end of “Wizard of Oz”:

The iconic magic Ruby Slippers.

A bit less known might be “The Red Shoes” of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1845 fable of that title, who bear their wearer – not home, but to their doom – ingeniously amalgamed into a ballet-themed movie by Powell & Pressburger in 1948:

The Red Shoes (1948). Magic, surreal, lethal!

Movie-makers of today: watch and learn, is all I can say.

The pope on the other hand (foot!) does not wear Prada, the pope wears Christ:

Papal fashion.

In yet another inspiring analysis on aeon.co, the question of how one of the oldest technologies of humankind acts as a symbolic foundation for human identity and has both enabled us to explore otherwise unattainable terrain as well as distanced and estranged us from earthly contact (“down to Earth”?) is discussed.

Personally, I prefer a fluffy approach to the ruby slippers. The home office movement has opened the possibility to a “fuck it” attitude towards work day fashion, for example like so:

Home office fashion (hot shit of Neukölln).

“Ruby” felt slippers by Lieberfilz, Berlin, socks by Red Wing Shoes, lounge pants by unknown korean designer, sweater by Kapital, Japan.

Put on those red fluffy slippers and dance the blues! (long time no see)

Category “hands” has to be read “feet/legs” this time!

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Eyes, Hands

Eternally Unfinished

“Men speaks many different languages, the king said
Children speak only one: the mother language
Mothers don’t speak; they hear
For men don’t know what to say, but this is okay
For older people don’t hear nor do they speak
For having come before, they learned how to see
How to decay, while they observe” [1]

Sometimes we are above, sometimes below, but we are Eternally Unfinished, even if we knew ALL the languages, as I sometimes wish.
The second guided tour I had the pleasure to experience with Juan wasn’t any bit less intriguing than the first, which was this one:


I am therefor very happy that a centrepiece of that exhibit has found its way into my realm, where it can remind us of the most universal und powerful language of all: silence.
As Juan emphasized back then, the skull is a symbol of life, not of death. As we unearth it, layer by layer, we uncover and discover his-story, auf Deutsch: die Ge-schichte(n). Just as we ourselves are many-layered stacks of stories, some of them lost, some hidden, some fragile and fading, but some strong enough to provide us with a skeleton that supports us for some time.
Which stories will remain?


The skull (category: Brains) is a multi-layered symbol of life.

And those you fear neither Death nor Hell nor the Florence Foster Jenkins of Finnish Tango go back to www.petersch.at and make sure their browser doesn’t block audio autoplay. Qui vit sans folie … (category: Ears) 🙂

[1] from Juan Arata: “What makes us human? – A model of Migra Tion”, Booklet for Ruberoid Festival 25-26 Sep 2015, ACUD Kunsthaus, Berlin
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Brains, Ears, Eyes, Hands, Life, the universe & everything