THE PREGNANT BRIDE IN THE WHEELCHAIR
Österreichischer Kunstverein, Vienna 1978
A bride, far advanced in her pregnancy, wearing a white dress, a mask, and a garland of pacifiers and a veil is pushed into the hall in her wheelchair, which has the words ‘PLEASE PUSH!’ written on the back. As she is pushed around in a circle, we hear a lullaby coming from the music box hanging around her neck. As soon as the wheelchair stops, the lullaby seizes and we hear the quiet crying of a baby coming from the bride’s stomach. After a while she induces the birth, gets up from the wheelchair with difficulty and slowly lets the recorder, which is wrapped with bandages and an umbilical cord made of latex, slide to the floor. Immediately we hear loud crying. The bride disappears, leaving the wheelchair and tape-recorder behind.
Photos: Margot Pilz

Translation: Hedi Pfennigbauer, Margarethe Clausen, out of
Let’s twist again: Historische und aktuelle Positionen der Performance in Österreich,
Carola Dertnig, Stefanie Seibold (Hg), DeA-Verlag, 2006