The Seamstress - Eva Schippers a.k.a. She-Man

The Seamstress
[IN CASE OF EMERGENCY]

An auditive installation performance by Eva Schippers a.k.a. She-Man

In a dark industrial factory a group of seamstresses are working, rapidly sewing red and white strips of fabric together. The small machine lamps only illuminate the sweaty faces and frantically moving hands of the women. Chakk-A-chikk-A-chackk-A-chikk-a-chak-a-chak-chak-a-chak-akk-chak, the sounds of the sewing machines create an intense atonal rhythm, a sensory experience of ambient noise in the dark. Every workstation and each tool is separately amplified: You hear the snip, snip of the scissors, abruptly cut off conversations, indistinct murmur from the radio in the background…

In her performances Eva Schippers uses symbols of emergency. These symbols are taken from daily life as well as the recognizable clear cut world of comics, heroes and villains: Green flashing light bulbs, red and white barrier tape, superhero accessories. In October 2010 the performative alter-ego She-Man was born. A super-heroin to literally give a body to her emergency as an artist. She-Man has been the starting point to investigate how 'The Emergency' can be made visible and audible in an art context. Is it possible to break through the art context; generally a save, contemplative situation where urgency subsides?