In addition to conferences, KIKK17 also featured an exhibition, the little KIKK and performances. This year we have witnessed something very specific: "Shrink".
Every hour, five people are placed in a vacuum for 20 minutes at Harscamp church. We are given no further explanation and we are therefore left to ourselves and our own thoughts. And to our phobias too, as even the slightest claustrophobic among us feels a certain degree of malaise when watching this performance.
We also wonder how they are getting on and how they can breathe. But more than anything, we talk and ask ourselves searching questions. Some see it as a rebirth, as those involved find themselves more or less uncomfortably squashed, which can be reminiscent of a mother's stomach at the end of a pregnancy. But with no liquid, no food and with lungs that demand air. Luckily, we soon realise that there are two tubes leading from this pocket one to remove air and the other to provide a small amount to those inside.
If they are affected, spectators are almost forced to put themselves in the position of those involved, to imagine their own sensations if they were in their place. If we do not keep a certain distance, we move beyond empathy and start to feel sympathy for these almost naked bodies. In my view, the metaphysical element of "Shrink" is further increased by the fact that the performance takes place in a church, adding several Catholic references. We could mention baptism, which is sometimes considered a second birth. And the volunteers are reborn every hour...
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