2013 THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 7 DAYS

set design for the theater group „toxic dreams“ in the theater BRUT (Vienna/A)
Idea and Performance: Yosi Wanunu
Music: Martin Siewert and Michael Strohmann
Production: Kornelia Kilga + BRUT

Carpets of different width and color were woven into a braid. The set makes the audience feel like they were inside a box or a wicker basket.

(from the programme booklet:)

the history of the world in 7 days

A person who went to sleep in the year 1000 and woke up in the year 1500 would probably have noticed many changes but still possibly could have felt at home. A person who had slept through the 500 years between 1500 and 2000, however, would probably have the impression that she had promptly died and arrived in heaven, or perhaps in hell.

How did this happen, and why? Across seven evenings, Yosi Wanunu leads us alongthe path our world has taken and interweaves societal – religious, political, cultural – and natural aspects into a history of worlds. The tour begins about 100,000 years ago when Homo sapiens were at about the same level as fireflies and seahorses. This leads to the emergence of language and thus the independence of history from biology, continues with the agricultural revolution, the transition from nomadic to sedentistic lifestyles and the emergence of trade, cultures, ideas of unity, of ‘we’ and ‘others’. The colonisation of the world by the Europeans and the creation of global markets, the industrial revolution and the idea of added value as the basis of capitalism as well as the massive societal upheavals of the previous centuries lead us to questions about what we refer to as future.
The audience of toxic dreams’ The History of the World in 7 Days takes on the role of Homo politicus who can intervene, represent, analyse and revise. Each evening is a collective work during which, together with Yosi Wanunu, history is actively experienced, both entertaining and poignantly trenchant.

First Evening: The Knowledge Tree
Second Evening: History’s Greatest Hoax
Third Evening: One World, One Culture
Fourth Evening: Brave New World
Fifth Evening: The European Exodus
Sixth Evening: The Capitalistic Religion
Seventh Evening: And They Lived Happily Ever After

further infos:
> The History in 7 Days