November 7, 2015 , 19:00 - 02:00 

Margret Wibmer’s performance Time Out, as the title of the work suggests, invites us to interrupt daily routines, pause for a moment, and form our own reasons for taking time or making it. The intervention is uncomplicated: visitors are invited to wear a robe-like garment covering their clothes, and choose a place in the church to lie down for as long as they wish. The garment, designed and individually handcrafted by the artist, signifies a transition into another mode and works as a protective medium between the wearer, the space and any onlookers. The process of taking time begins with dressing and the robe must be carefully adjusted to fit the wearer’s body.
On a formal level Time Out plays with a shift in spatial relations. It shifts subjectivity by changing perspective and orientation – allowing viewers to be on the ground looking up at the ceiling and, in other moments, standing above bodies at rest as they merge with the ground. Wibmer breaks open new questions through the convergence of the horizontal and vertical: What does the invitation to lie flat on a sacred space mean? How does it work as a gentle act of resistance? Horizontality, achieved every day when we sleep, becomes a socially significant act when it is performed in public. As the horizontal form becomes absorbed within the high ceilings of the church, it resists the endless rush of productivity and speed. This performance is to be taken up on one’s own terms and in one’s own time, acting as an important reminder to make a more livable relationship with time.

The performance will run continuously from 7pm on Saturday until 2am on Sunday. The 44 garments will be rotating among all visitors who want to wear one.
Time Out is made possible through generous support of Stichting Vrienden van de Oude Kerk, Stichting Stokroos, Tijl Fonds, the Austrian Embassy en Villgrater Natur.
You can follow the development and documentation of TIME OUT on our news page: http://margretwibmer.eu/time-out-news/

Studio Margret Wibmer
www.mbassyunlimited.org
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network ambassador and fundraiser DAI
dutchartinstitute.eu