The question posed in the title of this work is derived from a moment when I started to think about my own death. Or rather, about what will remain after me. After all, all of us have people who are not with us anymore. Or are they? In our memories? But what if we remember them differently than they actually were? What were their voices like? Or what did their skin smell like? What made them laugh? I feel it’s as much a political responsibility as an intimate act of kindness to decide who and how we choose to remember. Therefore, I’m looking for people who would be willing to remember me as an act of kindness. Do you think it could be you?

In "So Who Will Remember Me in the End?" Barbara Lehtna looks into how collective agency can be shared amongst strangers by taking responsibility for someone else’s identity. The performance is preceded by Lehtna meeting three volunteer participants for exactly one hour in order for them to become the keepers of her identity. During that hour the participants can tell her what she could do for them to remember her as long as possible. Soon after the three participants are asked to go on stage where they are asked questions about Barbara’s identity in front of an audience who has not met Barbara and does not have an image of her. Over time the stakes are raised and the questions tend to get more personal and intimate.

About Show

Do you even care? (Barbara Lehtna, Arterritory, 25-04-2022)