Sag' mir wo die Blumen sind was a performance piece, created for the exhibition 'two hundred acres' that took place at Pump House Gallery, Battersea Park in London in 2015. The performance was located at the Subtropical Gardens in Battersea Park, a short walk from the gallery. 

 

The audience, guided by dancer Sonya Cullingford, moved through the Subtropical Gardens, while listening to a soundscape created from footage that was recorded in a tropical garden. The audience had access to the sound piece online, and was asked to bring along their own headphones.

 

For the performance, Sonya was asked to move inside the space they hear rather than the space they see. Dancers are trained to be aware of the way their bodies move in space. We witnessed how the dancer moves inside a space that she would imagine this space to be, moving inside a memory that is not her own.

 

John Gibson collected the plants for the Subtropical Gardens in India in 1835. In order for them to survive in our climate, he had to create a mild micro-climate for them. In this artificially created climate, they have adapted to their new environment, yet carry the memory of their home. In a way, the performer and the audience are in a similar position as those plants, being dislocated and displaced. In an artificial act, a “climate” was created, which places them inside a tropical space that does not exist, if only as a memory.