Ansgar Priem
CRY
07.06
CRY is a performance about not being able to cry.
During the performance, the performer sits in a bath until he becomes hypothermic. Because of this, he slowly loses control over his body.
After this, an AI-generated video will be played. In the video, a photo of the performer’s deceased mother is brought back to life. She speaks to him in a comforting, motherly way and says: “Ansgar, you are a good artist. You are a good performer. This is a good performance.”
The performer will see this video for the first time together with the audience. Because of that, the shock is also real for him.
With CRY, the performer first attacks his body, and then also his mind. The work plays with grief, comfort, artificial emotion and the question of what a “good performance” actually is.
Is it still a good performance if the performer is simply sitting in a bath, becoming hypothermic, while someone tells him that it is good?
Practical information
- Performance on the occasion of the last day of the group exhibition Malgré Tout
- 07.06.2026, 5 p.m.
- Free entrance
- Louis Pasteurlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
