English Deutsch Argentina
Brasil Chinese Latvijas
Image: Leonard Zubler
Theatre
Movies
Performance
TV-Shows
Radio plays
Columns
Attaistic art
Attabambi-Pornoland -
Journey to the Centre of the Pig


Attabambi-Pornoland is a stop along the route of the Church of Fear, which runs from Atta-Atta in Berlin and Bambiland in Vienna to Parsifal in Bayreuth.


The late Romantic period saw the establishment of the notion that the Devil is present, that he cannot even be killed by science. This is pronounced from the spire of a chapel in Schlingensief's Bambiland. The Devil survives the death of God, subsequently inheriting some of his old partner's rights. Whoever has a quarrel with God must now address their grievances to the Devil - preferably to his modern manifestation, the megalomaniac, bestial element of the self that has proved a stumbling block for the quest for God ever since the Renaissance. The dialogue with the pig commences, initially in secret and under cover of art, until the actionists appear in public as proud pigs contemptuous of art. The actionists show a way for pigs to cope with life in hell, as Artaud once did and Schlingensief's Church of Fear does now.



An "Attabambi-Pornoland" staging in Zürich, 2004 (Image: Zubler)



"This is not a church of art, but a community of the terror-challenged, founded outside the realm of art on March 20, 2003. I am one of its co-founders and represent the interests of the church using the means at my disposal. It now operates in six continents and has more than 9,000 active members in over a hundred parishes. These are people for whom faith was beyond belief. We profess this fear as private property and are no longer willing to allow our fears and concerns to give weight to political hierarchies. It has no centre, no Vatican and no Kaaba - the focus is on each individual. Here lies the power of fear: sensing yourself again, registering that you exist. In an era when we are presented every day with new horror scenarios brought to us by Islamic terrorists, by suicide bombers and by insane trainee pilots, the threat of terror - which in fact takes place anyway - can provide a boost for political wheeler-dealers. State terrorism is, after all, also a form of terror, and perhaps one that is more dangerous than any crazed gunman in Baghdad or Bad Ems. The ladies and gentlemen who claim to permanently have solutions available can then sit a little more securely again in their armchairs and weave their webs of intrigue. To counter these machinations, the members of the Church of Fear assert their right to personal terror, which they express in equally personal actions." (Christoph Schlingensief)



Image from an "Attabambi-Pornoland" staging in Zürich, 2004



What the critics said about Attabambi-Pornoland


"Attabambi-Pornoland is solid and funny. Schlingensief takes a self-mocking swipe at all his favourite topics: the worship of genius and dreams of redemption, family and incest, religion and porn." Tagesanzeiger Zürich

"Filth, subsidised" Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

"Run for the hills!" Neue Zürcher Zeitung

"A long black and white film of Pasolinian quality. (...) Serene negation that throws our perception into a state of crisis, especially as film and theatre fade into each other to the point of extreme neutrality; our vision and hearing are cleansed of penetrative understanding and recognition. By means of sweat. It has a liberating element. There is a corresponding passage in the Bible: Isaiah 6, 8-10." Berliner Zeitung

"A new theatre of atrocities" Tagesspiegel

"Global contexts in accordance with the rules of a feminist intro seminar - very caustic and witty, and in visual terms a colourful bag of surprises (sets: Janina Audick)" Süddeutsche Zeitung

"An assault on art and on theatre. (...) breaks with the failure of the historical avant-garde, it really throws everything into the fray.(...) A testimony to totalitarian despair." Der Standard (Vienna)



Filmstill: "PORNOLAND", the 3rd Attaistic Movie by Christoph Schlingensief



Zusätzliches Material zu Attabambi-Pornoland

- Attabambi-Pornoland Gallery - Stills from stagings and the 3rd Attaistic Movie
- Elfriede Jelinek - Nobel Prize Winner Elfriede Jelinek's Official Website
- www.atta-atta.org - 1st Attaistic Exhibition (Attaistic Art from the stagings)
- "Totally confusing supposed unambiguities" - by Marion Löhndorf, Kunstforum
- It's not going - biography by the Guggenheim Museum New York (1998)
- Christoph Schlingensief - A biography by Till Briegleb, Goethe Institut
- Schlingensief.com German - Further information is available in german only
Attabambi-Pornoland - Journey to the Centre of the Pig
By Schlingensief (adapted from Jelinek)
Schauspielhaus Zürich

Director: Christoph Schlingensief

Musical arrangement: Uwe Altmann, Max Knoth; Scenery: Janina Audick; Costumes: Marysol del Castillo; Lighting: Voxi Bärenklau; Video: Meika Dresenkamp; Dramaturge: Karl Baratta; Artistic assistant: Jörg van der Horst

Cast: Bibiana Beglau, Margrit Carstensen, Andrea Erdin, Irm Hermann, Brigitte Kausch, Karin Witt, Michael Gempart, Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, Josef Ostendorf, Schorsch Kamerun, Christoph Schlingensief

Premiere: February 7, 2004





Zusatzmaterial

- Picture gallery

External websites

- www.atta-atta.org
- Elfriede Jelinek



Related projects

- Atta Atta
- Bambiland