“Yes?”
“Hi, come in!”
“Would you like some tea?”

This or something similar is how our conversation begins on this Wednesday afternoon before Christmas. Beanbags are spread out on the floor in the middle of the studio around a large box of baklava. We sit down and I ask my first question.

The main character Ofelia, a middle-aged woman, has been sitting in bed for a long time. She lies leaning to one side, her legs thrown over the blanket, staring at the television. A South American telenovela is playing. Every now and then she has to adjust her sitting position, whenever staying in one position for too long becomes uncomfortable or the folds in the bed start to prickle.

“So the text in and of itself can go in all directions. Ideally, it should in some way reflect what you worked on during your residency,” I hear myself say.

Before Jeanne and René take up their residency at Uferstudios last summer, they both work on different topics. Jeanne had previously been involved in a project about bed folds, while René was researching South American telenovelas. For the residency, they therefore decide to combine the two topics and see what can come of it. A key moment in the preparations is the realization that the bed plays a central role in both of their lives.

Both Jeanne and René have experienced the bed as a place of protection, retreat and self-discovery for a long time due to their gender transition.

At the same time, however, both artists also largely live their everyday lives from their beds: Due to Jeanne's chronic illness and René's burnout and depression, their respective beds are the center of their lives, where rest and work, regeneration and administration are intermingled. The two explore this phenomenon with their artistic collaboration.

Another new episode. The folds pile up into rigid bed formations. Ofelia observes how the textures grow almost as if by magic. She sinks even deeper into the softness of her bed.

“We started the residency with lots of important deadlines, so we were both very busy and this resulted in a very equal hierarchy for the collaboration,” says Jeanne.

Initially, the two artists devised a plan to transform the studio into a bed. “Part of the plan was to watch television in the studio and observe the movements of our bodies. We had considered recording ourselves with video cameras. But when the TV was in the studio, we didn't use it,” says René.

Jeanne and René continue their work lying in bed. They buy large comforter covers and examine the folds and textures of the material choreographically. Aligning pillows, reaching for the remote control or turning over a blanket thus become choreographic elements. Jeanne and René place particular emphasis on the constant adjustment of bodies in bed and the associated, repetitive, subtle macro-movements that become the choreography of everyday life.

At the same time, however, Jeanne and René also begin writing a telenovela that focuses neither on heteronormative love stories nor stereotypical rich-poor contrasts, but rather on an intimate and simultaneously exaggerated portrayal of their own life experiences. Her title character is Ofelia, who navigates her life from bed with an illness, wrestling with internal and external conflicts similar to those faced by the two artists.

“We want, well, we want the view to shift from a clichéd suffering to a depiction of the bed as a place of diverse productive activities.”

Ofelia pushes herself up, her hands dug into the sheets. Her body groans under the unyielding movement that smoothes the textures beneath her. Her hands reach towards the remote control lying on the bedside cabinet next to her. Her fingers feel their way forward centimeter by centimeter until - yes, what is that? She gets stuck on a strange object...

“Yes, we had the two weeks in summer at the beginning of the residency. In the summer, yes. But that was also, I think that's important too, but... I don't know if that's important for the interview, but... It was important for both of us that we had a break in between.”

“We didn't go through it. Yes. And then it was... When we arrived now... Yes, we did.... God, this is huge! Enjoy it!”

Mhhh, delicious, baklava. I take a big piece and pop it in my mouth. It tastes very sweet and nutty, the syrup sticks to my hands.

“We bought, well, I bought it this morning. And we've bought so much, and eaten so much already, we've already had three of them, or four? Please, knock yourself out!”

“What was the last thing you just said? Oh, the break was important.” “Yes.”

Drinking a warm cup of tea, having lunch together - all those needs that Jeanne and René could rarely satisfy in other rehearsals have become part of their artistic working process in the residency, part of their bed that they have set up in the studio. They also invite the three artists Eva Königshofen, Romuald Krężel and Onur Ağbaba into their studio, who they’re familiar with, as Outside Eyes, will each add a new perspective to Jeanne's and René's artistic work.

It's an old cookie. It crumbles under Ofelia's fingers. She wants to grab it, but it's too late: the crumbs scatter onto the white sheet, leaving a sandy texture.

“And that's where you enter the world, Lea.
Into our telenovela.
Then she came by. What did she want? Why had she invaded our bed?
It's not quite clear whether the story of Ofelia is the story of Ofelia in bed, or of Ofelia in the studio, or the possibility that Ofelia can get out of bed and into a studio, or whether the studio, the bed, it's all a bit confused, whether the world outside doesn't come to her bed.”

The emotional climax of this episode has been reached. We'll see more in the next episode. The voice over breaks off abruptly and we see

Jeanne Eschert and René Alejandro Huari Mateus rehearsed at Uferstudios for a total of four weeks in June/July 2024 and December 2024 as part of the “Exploration” program of the Berlin Residency Program 2024 of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. A showing of their work took place on 30.01.2025 in Studio 6.