sharing a dream

2016, in the precarious neighborhood Once in Buenos Aires, Argentina, katharinajej sets up her private bed on the sidewalk across from her home. In front of the bed is a sign that reads in Spanish: "Share a dream with me. Please enter without shoes". The word sueño has a double meaning in Spanish: both a dream of sleep and a wish.

People walk past me. I notice their hurried pace and fast rhythm. They don't seem to see me or the bed. Only a few look back and smile as they almost pass by. I feel protected and relaxed in the bed, but at the same time fragile and at the mercy of the public urban space. A man complains to me that his customers no longer have enough space to enter his shop. He calls his boss. We agree to move the bed half a meter. I lie back in bed. Just when I think that no one will dare to come to bed with me, a young woman suddenly takes off her shoes and slips under the covers with me. She lives a few doors down. She stays with me for a long time and tells me about her dream of becoming an editor and starting a home for animals. Some time later, Walter, a young man from the neighborhood with few teeth and a strong body odor, sits down by my bed. He tells me about his dream of robbing a bank. When I ask, he corrects himself: his real dream is to become a soccer player.

Pictures
Jenny Toro Salas

Support
The performance took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as part of the research for the PerformanceZuHauseFestival, sponsored by the state of NRW.