“Holidays” shows people contemplating. They recapitulate, remember, and count, as Mats Staub has asked them questions to be answered by a number: How many people have you met in the last 12 months? Or: How many professions have you worked in? Some people answer hesitantly, some promptly. Entire stories are acted out in their faces, despite the few words that are spoken. Oral storytelling is reduced to a minimum, the imagination however is all the more called for.
Press
“The face becomes a location for theatre. The interviewees become surfaces onto which audiences can project stories or think of their own experiences. This stimulating installation encourages thought and conversations with other people about the trickiest questions.”
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 21.01.2011
“One can approach this clever installation with the ambition of a detective, in a spirit of playful self-examination or out of sociological interest. Or one can also delegate the answers and watch those who are questioned thinking, counting silently and commenting on their own lives in the form of numbers.”
Tages-Anzeiger, 21.01.2011
Stations
St. Gallen SQUARE, from 12. March 2024
St. Gallen, SQUARE, 13. December 2022–10. February 2023
Paris, Centre culturel suisse, 13. September–6. October 2019
Lausanne, Théâtre Vidy, Festival 'programme commun', (March 2018 )
Biel, Nacht der 1000 Fragen (October 2016)
Zurich, Helferei (June 2016)
Baden, ThiK (February 2016)
Basel, University Hospital / Kaserne on the move(October 2015)
Fribourg, Festival Belluard Bollwerk International (June 2015)
Stuttgart, insight (May 2015)
Lugano, FIT Festival (October 2014)
Basel, Museum der Kulturen (May 2013)
Prague, Pražský divadelní festival německého jazyka (November 2012)
Braunschweig, Festival Theaterformen (June 2012)
Lucerne, Kleintheater (September 2011)
Zurich, Gessnerallee (January 2011)
Basel, Kaserne (September 2010)
Credits
Initiative, Concept, Direction: Mats Staub
Camera: Matthias Stickel, Benno Seidel
Producer: zwischen_produktionen
-
How old are you?
-
How many difficult exams have you passed?
-
How many people have you fallen in love with?
-
For how many years of your life have you been/were you married?
-
How many people do you celebrate Christmas with?
-
How many people have you got to know better in the last twelve months?
-
How many friends do you have who you can rely on?
-
How many opponents do you have?
-
How many times have you given or attended a birth?
How many people close to you have died?