History of Violence

Performance
On Christmas Eve 2012, writer Édouard Louis was robbed and raped in his Paris apartment. In History of Violence, Édouard tells the story of that night and tries to understand the causes and consequences of the phenomenon of violence. In this way he processes the trauma he suffered and at the same time analyzes feelings of fear, resentment, jealousy and exclusion. But also of power structures, the gap between rich and poor, racism, homophobia and the wealth differences between cities and the countryside.

design
A cube, a closed transport box in which a traumatic experience is enclosed. Édouard would rather remain silent, but is forced to tell the same painful story over and over again. For changing conversation partners – from police officers who make a report to the doctor who has to determine whether he is lying based on his injuries. The horror of ‘the procedure’ that a person seems to have to undergo. This history is analyzed step by step for the public. During the performance, opening shutters and doors of the rotating cube always provide a different perspective on the ‘attempted manslaughter’ as it is mentioned in the official report.