My neighbour the performer

They climbed fences and made it not only into newspapers, but also into art chronicles – because they did so at the Berlin Biennial. Forty people from Líšeň, a Brno district, first put up copies of their own fences, and then climbed them to get to their neighbours in front of an audience. The author of the project, Líšeň-born artist Kateřina Šedá, wanted the performance to symbolise „the establishment of a new inter-human contact“ or, to put it more simply, to tear down at least for a moment the „insurmountable fence“ between us.

The Berlin climbers returned home almost a month ago, and they are again living their everyday private lives in Líšeň, a small village that lies in a valley, below a wall of modern prefabs. In narrow lanes, dozens of tiny houses with small gardens and yards are crammed up one next to another. Kristýna Kapounová, 25, a student at the Faculty of Social Studies and a participant in the Biennial performance, shares one of them with her parents. She says the biggest surprise was the fact that it is still possible to talk people into something as seemingly crazy as climbing fences. „It was really nice to see that everyone treated the others kindly, as friends,“ Kristýna says, recalling the Berlin climbing. "Today, when I'm going home, I see Líšeň quite differently: The streets are no longer sad and anonymous. I know that…