One Day I Think I’ll Lend a Hand But Right Now I Need a Plasma TV I · photograph · 2009

One Day I Think I’ll Lend a Hand reflects on our collective desire to help and our equally collective reluctance to act. The work asks what it means to perform as normal, to follow the trends, fashions and lifestyles projected to us on television, at a time when the world needs something more from us.

One Day I Think I’ll Lend a Hand brings together local Germans and refugees from the Middle East and Africa, unified by a communal spirit of making art. The work is created during an artist residency at the Künstlerdorf Schöppingen. Relationships form between a diverse group of people building on what they have in common.

The performers dressed in red tops and black pants are positioned in a grid formation in an outdoor space. Together they perform simple and repetitive synchronised exercises, following Sylvia, also dressed in red and black, in a routine relayed to them via an old TV screen.

One Day I Think I’ll Lend a Hand But Right Now I Need a Plasma TV · Schöppingen I · photograph · 2009

One Day I Think I’ll Lend a Hand But Right Now I Need a Plasma TV · Schöppingen II · photograph · 2009

What emerges during rehearsals is quietly revealing. Individuals initially group themselves with people who look similar, gravitating toward what feels safe and familiar. As rehearsals progress and the performance takes shape, this distance closes. Four weeks later, at the exhibition showing work from the residency, the same performers greet each other warmly, re-living their shared experience.

One Day I Think I’ll Lend a Hand But Right Now I Need a Plasma TV · Sydney II · photograph · 2009

One Day I Think I’ll Lend a Hand But Right Now I Need a Plasma TV · Sydney III · photograph · 2009

One Day I Think I’ll Lend a Hand was performed during an artist residency at the Künstlerdorf Schöppingen, Germany (2009) and adapted and re-performed at Sydney Art Fair, Sydney (2009).