
ZWISCHENFRUCHT -
INTERCROP
A PERFORMANCE
by Ruth Kemna
HALTERN/SALZBURG
ongoing
Intercrops (Zwischenfrucht) are plants that are planted in fields between harvest and reseeding to enrich the soil with nutrients. The often inconspicuous plants thus make an important contribution to maintaining a fertile and productive arable land.
But who are the people who cultivate these arable land?
I come from a family that has been running a farm since the 15th century. My father, born in 1935, experienced unimaginable changes as a farmer due to technical and chemical achievements and developments. From working with horses to today's remote controlled tractor.
But what has remained almost unchanged to this day is that the work of a farmer, generally the farming community, is often associated with clumsiness, even stupidity, with unworldly backwoods lifestyles and ways of thinking.
Yet it is the yield of the arable land of our earth that inevitably touches us all every day in the form of food.
But what are the thoughts of a farmer, what do descriptions of his work sound like, what longings and subtle observations are hidden in the silent and taciturn nature of an old farmer? And what words does he - who is otherwise never asked - find to describe his hard physical work?
From conversations with my father and my own reflections on the "manual" work of a classical musician, on the hard and just as often invisible work BEFORE the performance, a solo performance emerges that impressively links these two seemingly so different worlds.
Performed so far: 10 December 2019 - Theater im Kunstquartier, Salzburg, Austria
a Solo Performance by Ruth Kemna
based on interviews with Rudolf Kemna




FOTOS: JONATHAN XIE