The project is based on the fascination with the language expression «heavy thoughts», a metaphor relating a physical, bodily quality of the adjective “heavy” to the mental concept of the noun “thoughts”. Concrete to abstract. Measurable to non-measurable. In most of the literature it is stated that the weight of an adult human brain varies between 1,300 –1,500 g, depending on age and gender. The weight of a human head is between 4 and 6 kg. But those statistics were made on the account of a single measurement per person. Is it possible that our head weights differently depending on our mental, physical, emotional or physiological state?Where do the thoughts reside in our body? Can they be “scanned”? Do they have colour or taste? Are they waves? Can we exist without them? The performance “highjacks” a form of a lecture and creates a narrative about thoughts, weigh and series of events that changed the life of I’M. Science and fiction. Text and video. In a “story” in which I’M wakes up in the middle of the night in her one bedroom apartment and asks herself a question:If my thoughts are heavier than usual, is my head heavier than usual too?

The performance is made with the participation of Prof. F. Siemsen (physicist - D), Prof. Bojana Kunst (philosopher – SLO), Prof. W.A. Wagenaar (psychologist – NL), Dr.Christian Röder (psychiatrist – D), Alexandra Thiel (trampoline instructor -D) and I.M’s 50 friends.

How heavy are my thoughts is co-produced by Mousonturm Frankfurt and Gasthuis Theater Amsterdam.

texts

Gewichtige Gedachten - Laura Karreman
Light Thoughts Experiments - Jeroen Peeters
How Heavy Are My Thoughts - Pirrko Husemann
“I Do Not Think But I Still Am” - Zlatko Wurzberg
Collected Press

performance dates

2003
Plateaux Festival, Mousonturm, Frankfurt (D)
Gasthuis Theater, Amsterdam (NL)

2004
Something Raw Festival, Amsterdam (NL)
Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Rotterdam (NL)
Monty, Antwerp (B)
Dance Week Festival, Zagreb (Croatia)
Mladi Levi Festival, Ljubljana (Slovenia)
August Festival/tants2, Springdance Dialogue, Tallinn (Estonia)
Theater festival/Gasthuis Amsterdam (NL)
Theater Kikker, Utrecht (NL)
Odeon, Zwolle (NL)
Lux, Nijmegen (NL)
Kruithuis, Groningen (NL)
Chassé, Breda (NL)
Bellevue, Amsterdam (NL)
Stuk, Leuven (B)
Vooruit, Gent (B)
Huis van Bourgondië, Maastricht (NL)

2005
Mousonturm, Frankfurt (D)
Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine Saint-Denis, Paris (F)
Belluard Bollwerk International, Fribourg (Switzerland)
Institute of contemporary Art, Portland. TBA Festival (USA)
IETM (informal european theatre meeting), Utrecht (NL)
Theatre Lieve Vrouw, Amersfoort (NL)

2006
HKD, Drugo more, Art and Clubing Festival, Rijeka ( Croatia )
National Review of Live Art, Glasgow, Scotland (UK )
The Anatomical Theatre Revisited Conference, Universiteity Theater, Amsterdam (NL)
Festival Scenes Grand Ecran, Angers (F)
Le lieu unique, Festival Let’s Dance Nantes (F)
La Porta, Barcelona (E)
Sophiensaele, Berlin (D)
Transeuropa Festival, Hildesheim (D)
Dance Theatre Workshop, New York (USA)
Basis Aktuele Kunst, Utrecht (NL)
XING, Bologna (I)

2007
DEPOT/ Memo Festival, Stuttgart (D)
Kunstverein Braunschweig (D)
Idance festival, Istanbul, (Turkey)
If I Can’t Dance…, Huis a/d Werf, Utrecht (NL)

2008
Festival Particules, L’Usine, Geneva (CH)
Brut, Vienna (AT)