Death and Birth in My Life

Which deaths and which births have influenced and changed my life so far?
Who have I welcomed, who have I lost and said farewell to – and what has happened to me in the process?

Mats Staub’s artistic projects take us on a journey to the four corners of the world, inviting us to take time to listen and watch. Without resorting to simple spectacle, Mats Staub has over the years developed an exceptionally coherent poetry that gives us portraits of intense humanity. With refined delicacy and meticulous formal rigour, his works explore our most intimate and personal dimension, confronting us with the multilayered complexity of our time.

In the long-term project Death and Birth in My Life two people talk to each other about their experiences of birth and death – they are filmed both talking and listening, so you can see both the narrating and listening faces on two monitors at the same time. As a video installation in theatre spaces, it creates a communal, immersive experience. Siting in small circles you will have the impression of being with the participants – a small group of strangers who meet to listen to stories, in a suspended time where you can allow yourself to reflect on endings and new beginings.

So far, Mats Staub has recorded 85 conversations in Europe and Africa and for each local installation he then makes a specific selection of films that create connections for the viewers to different regions of the world. With his work, he wants to create a space that enables empathy, participation and connection and encourages and frames talking about one's own experiences. A place that allows painful feelings and talking about things that are otherwise excluded, and in the best case also offers the experience of consolation.