Memory House is a practice-based research project, that extends from the inquires of ‘Love Letters’. I was invited to be an artist in residence at Kebbel Villa in Schwandorf, Germany from July 22nd till August 18th, 2025. Kebbel Villa is an old, bourgeouis house in the Bavarian countryside sedimented with many histories. As of now, it serves as a museum and residency program for international artists.  

Upon my arrival, I learned that American soldiers had lived in the villa in 1945 and that they had created a cinema, theatre and casino. I found myself attentive to the relationship between play and pleasure in an otherwise fractured country. I began to interview residents of the area who were old enough to have memories of the war and post-war period. The Kebbel Villa was largely absent from the city archives, and I began to walk around, take images and notes of what I noticed and what was etched into the architecture of the town. During my meandering, I moulded a puppet out of clay who became my interlocuter/lover/ghost named Bennie. He became critical to my engagement with the town.

 On August 9, as part of open studios, I performed MEMORY HOUSE in an old Bavarian events hall, formerly used as stables and as a biergarten. The audience was composed of local residents from the town and surrounding area.

I produced a zine with a collection of poems, a description of the performance and an exegesis. The zine is currently distributed at Hopscotch Bookstore, Berlin and Human Relations, Bushwick, New York City. You will find extracts of the zine below, images of the performance and its video.

Thank you to Jurgen Dehm for inviting me to the Artist in Residency Program and filming the performance, Carina Neuffer for the technical support and to the photographers Hyundo Lee (@lee.rundo) and Kurt Hanauer.