2 Chairs, 1 Tree, 1 Ladder.

For this work I attached two chairs to a tree. At the arrival of a group of people, I placed a ladder by the tree, it's highest step ending by the edges of the seats.
I asked the group: 'Wie wilt?', 'Who wants [to go]?

The first person walked up the ladder, but changed her mind, and joined the group again. The next two people confidently went and sat down. The rest of the group stood there and watched as I took away the ladder.
Me and others started making pictures quickly. We felt responsible for the two participants sitting in the tree and didn't want to leave them there for too long, so we ran from place to place to find a good perspective to take the right shot.
The sitters, sat and watched the group staring and photographing.
As everyone seemed content with their pictures and the aesthetic view, I placed the ladder back underneath the participants' feet and let them come down to the ground gently.

In acrobatic sports, roles are divided between bases and flyers.
In Dutch we know these terms by 'onder- en bovenpartners', this literally translates to under- and upperpartners.
The base stays on the ground supporting the flyer, who is being lifted or thrown into the air, then caught from the air and being put down again by the base.
In this case the tree, the ladder and the bystanders function as the base providing support for the two participants. The participants step into the role of the flyers, and judge the base to be trustworthy enough to safely guide them through as they make their way up and down.

This work shows acrobatics from a different point of view.
Interesting about this happening was the division of the group, looking up to others and looking down on them, by circumstance.
Also the fact that as soon as the two participants were sitting, the whole situation turned into a photoshoot.
The influence of peer-pressure that can take part in a performance like this.
Another thing I found remarkable about this happening was the way that the feeling of power over others in the group shifted throughout the performance. One can feel confident and powerful when taking the risk to climb onto the tree, in front of all the others watching. When someone is positioned higher than the others, often this represents power. Although as soon as these people sat down, their control fell away into the in the hands of those underneath them. The people in the tree looked vulnerable, they couldn't do much about others taking pictures of them and they couldn't grab the ladder by themselves. They were now vulnerable and depending on the group of people, those chairs and the tree underneath them to secure their safety. The people watching were standing safely on the ground with the chance to walk away before letting down the sitters and thus had more power, but also more responsibility.

My work was part of a guided and experimental exposition from me and 4 other artists that took place on the 18th of March, 2019. In this compilation video the performance is shown from 10:52 minutes until 12:20 minutes.