A prediction that already came true yesterday repeats itself between the sheets: in front of us, the folds of the bed spread out, carrying sounds and stories within them, speaking of needs never before known. Bed folds are not solitary places of retreat, but sites of concealment that connect bedridden people with one another in a particular way – without having to walk, run, or get up. Not being pursued, but being protected, without having to tense one’s muscles.
As part of the personal bed fold readings that Jeanne has been offering for about a year to people who spend much of their time in bed due to chronic illness and disability, materials and stories have accumulated that are processed in the performance. The readings usually take place one-on-one and, through the respective bed folds, attend to corporeality and temporality in bed. Back on stage at Ballhaus Ost, the folds are gathered, eavesdropped on, archived.
We invite you to think along the folds with us – as desire lines that make seemingly invisible connections traceable and in doing so have grown into an infrastructure in which retreat does not mean absence. Something we prepared in order not to be found.
Jeanne continues to offer bed fold readings – via home visits, video calls, or chat. If you are interested, please get in touch at bedfoldreadings@gmail.com. The offer is aimed at people who spend a lot of time in bed and have developed a special relationship to it – people with chronic or mental illnesses, disabilities, or those close to them.
Jeanne Eschert creates texts, performances, magic, choreographies, visual art, and ongoing gatherings in various theaters and venues. She works in a magic shop, grew up with the circus in Cologne, and studied Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen. Her artistic practice engages with magic tricks, chronic illness, being bedridden, and transness.
