Sick of fear

In Sick of Fear, Alexey Kokhanov explores fear on the level of the “in-depth body.” The body becomes an object, and the pavilion transforms into an extension of this body, resembling an organ or a cell. Both appear vulnerable, open to contagion. In this way, Alexey addresses the stigma of illness in Sick of Fear and engages with the often-hidden causes of fear.

Each exhibition day at 4:00 p.m., Alexey begins a three-hour sound and vocal performance in which he repeatedly “contaminates” and “cleans” the windows of the Sternschuppen Pavilion.

At 7:00 p.m., this is followed by a roughly 45-minute vocal performance in which Alexey processes personal experiences with a life-changing diagnosis as well as family memories of illness. Through a collage of window-cleaning sounds, extended vocal techniques, and his own texts, an intense sound composition emerges: a song about the fear of contagion.