Tarot Card reading on the Berlin Train system: Failure

 

 

This was a complete failure on all levels. The idea as suggested by Karin Hofko was to do free readings for people on the train system in Berlin as a replacement for payment of the train to demonstrate an alternative form of expressing female embodiment/arguably 'healing' in an erotic fashion (this kind of occult female knowledge is largely not valued in society since the witch burning days). However, while I bought a day card for my camera woman Daniela Gast, I was caught within the first stop by the ticket controllers, who got very aggressive that she was filming and refused to engage until she turned the camera off, while we were saying it was for my performance. They threatened to take us to the police and were very focused on the camera over me not having a ticket. I gave them 40 euro for the fine and they gave me a ticket receipt. I offered them a card but they refused. Then the camera was having problems, and did not seem to record that incident properly, most of which we caught audio of. It was glitching and does not transfer in editing, so we used my digital camera to video instead.

Then each person we approached on the trains and at the station declined an offer for a reading as if i were asking them for something. I was offering them something free, but the transience and the association with beggars seemed to be an overwhelming factor. Daniela, who is from Berlin, also said she thinks the German/Berlin attitude is very distrusting, very rational and that this kind of offer would be considered very strange. Even children who were staring, declined. Everyone looked afraid or simply disinterested.

This project failed completely from the beginning. Proven to me was the immovability of this system. While I often do not pay for it, I tend to be careful about where I go. I was caught on the U2 main line friday afternoon. It felt like being inside a very rigid system which was unable to in any way facilitate an alternative or playful process of deconstruction relating to money systems/female erotic emodiment. Clearly this was an absolute NO GO. No humour was seen in the process, people took it very seriously. Perhaps it was the time of day, week and season. It didn't matter speaking english or german, people were not open to it.