Marielle Videler - Walk with Incense

Walk with Incense
2005

project and performance, Amsterdam
duration performance 2 hours

Walk with Incense is a project developed after exploring the area of the Leidseplein in Amsterdam. This popular square, marked by the Stadsschouwburg (theater) and surrounded by a lot of pubs, is often very crowded. On the other hand, hardly anyone lives in the residencies around the square. What happens to the ‘hart’ of the city when local residents leave? Initially, Mariëlle Videler developed a plan whereby she, as resident number 10, would live in a police container on the square. This plan stayed unrealized and she decided to deploy invisible means. She sought collaboration with people who support others in their search for contact. And used scent, to stimulate the senses in order to activate associations and feelings of love. She found the priest of a church willing to cooperate on the project and was allowed to use the churches incense holders to spread a scent together with a group of women - former sex workers -. In her studio she created a textile banner and long red scarfs. One evening they walked from the church to and around the Leidseplein. While walking the group spread the incense. Arriving on the square, they handed out incense sticks to bystanders and lit them together.


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^		Walk with Incense 2005 project and performance, Amsterdam duration performance 2 hours Walk with Incense is a project developed after exploring the area of the Leidseplein in Amsterdam. This popular square, marked by the Stadsschouwburg (theater) and surrounded by a lot of pubs, is often very crowded. On the other hand, hardly anyone lives in the residencies around the square. What happens to the ‘hart’ of the city when local residents leave? Initially, Mariëlle Videler developed a plan whereby she, as resident number 10, would live in a police container on the square. This plan stayed unrealized and she decided to deploy invisible means. She sought collaboration with people who support others in their search for contact. And used scent, to stimulate the senses in order to activate associations and feelings of love. She found the priest of a church willing to cooperate on the project and was allowed to use the churches incense holders to spread a scent together with a group of women - former sex workers -. In her studio she created a textile banner and long red scarfs. One evening they walked from the church to and around the Leidseplein. While walking the group spread the incense. Arriving on the square, they handed out incense sticks to bystanders and lit them together.