A video of the video installation ‘Sowing Salt’ at my exhibition in Swakopmund 2012.

Sowing Salt

Performance/ HD Video piece
58 seconds HD video and sound installation, looped indefinitely
Concept, Text and performance: Imke Rust ©
Video: Steffen Holzkamp
Location: Salt Company (PTY) Ltd, Namib Desert.
April 2012

This performance is based on an old myth telling of people who blindly follow their leaders’ advice in the hope to get rich quick, without questioning it or considering the consequences, which might be disastrous. The looped video of a person sowing salt is screened against a wall underlined by the continuous and calming sound of the steps and salt falling onto the ground, while a voice coming from a speaker on the other side repeats the never-ending text.

Text:

… They told us to sow salt / They promised us great wealth
We believed them / We sowed salt
Now our fields are barren / And our children are dying
We do not ask why / We keep on sowing salt
because … (starting again from the top)