These two poems were exchanged by lovers. The first is a phonetic poem that is situated within a dyslexia – some have found that reading it out loud helps.
A poem to Ivan # 8
Thet time wan we went on a dite to the clinic to chek for STD’s
we had awer risons to beliv thet we (thes time) cary ganaria
a teling sms from a lover of urs (thet rimein anonymous to me)
give us a strong indikechen thet we shod exsemen,
wail laying in a haf room next to ur haf room wail both awer blood sistems obsord the designeted antibutiks (thet I woos exsited to be inform abut, wich mide the doctor, Martin (i think?) thet stadys hibru bicos he wood like to comuniket with his partner in his Mather toong) say,
“I dident knou thet u (me) stadyd medicen..”
U woor lafing.
beck to the room
and the Lying
and the neboring
and the alarm ball thet woos left rested on awer 2 belis in case samthing goos roong (disines, nochesnes, or blady mess),
I resivd an sms from u
” help, ther kiping me hir .. ”
and later thet day I woos fiver sick and a litning strok the hose next to urs.
u saw it cajsa too.
Heving a glimps et u Lying with the infujen conetcted to ur vein
(cos I woos relist first) mide me think
if il gat to see u es an old porsen.
Poem to Asaf
If being
Sick
Is
Hearing you ask funny questions
Lying next to you but in the next room
Eating a wet sandwich in the waiting room
Watching someone stick a cotton swab in your butt
Seeing lightning strike down on my neighbors house
Then
I am fine
About the images: Drag in Japan is a collaboration between Asaf Aharonson and Marc Gabriel, and an experiment in shaking the idea of fixed identities. Drag in Japan explores multiple layers of foreignness, performing transgressive gender as it intersects with the cultural transgression implied in the role of the tourist. In April 2018, Asaf travelled to Japan and for the duration of the journey (16 days) Asaf appeared each day as a different version of himself as a drag queen called Taso. Asaf embraced tactics of guerrilla dragging, where the process of getting in to drag is performed by occupying public spaces: the men’s bathroom and kitchen of a hostel, a bathroom on a 10th-floor office building, on the train and so on.
Poems by Asaf Aharonson and Ivan Ekemark
Photos by Asaf Aharonson and Marc Philipp Gabriel
Asaf Aharonson is a recent graduate of the BA Dance & Choreography program of the H.Z.T., Berlin. Aharonson has collaborated and performed with Peter Plyer, Mia Habib, Hana Erdman, Iris Erez, Tami Lebovits, and Arkadie Zidas among others. Through his art practice he aims to prioritize the spending of time with others as the primary site for the generation of material for live performance.
Ivan Ekemark is a hostess and a former amateur erotic dancer gone semi professional contemporary performance hustler. Ivan is a lover, friend and accomplice with Asaf and also collaborating with Asaf in the collective TENT.
Marc Philipp Gabriel is a Berlin based performance artist working between voice, installation, video and architecture from the perspective of dance and movement. Key influences derive from the danceWEB scholarship (Vienna) and the BA dance, context and choreography at HZT Berlin. His solo AJIMA (2013) for Maija Karhunen has travelled to Cyprus, Norway, the UK, Switzerland and Finland. In 2017 his collaboration DOWN TO EARTH with Kieron Jina featured at Theatertreffen (Berlin) and National Arts Festival (South Africa).
