“This installation is based on “Sweeney Astray”, an Irish text in a version by Seamus Heany. The original source of the story dates back to the 7th century A.D. when, after a battle, a king goes mad and is transformed into a bird, The focus is on a small section of the text when he "levitated in a frantic cumbersome motion, like a bird of the air. ” As an outsider, an exile, he becomes a poet living in nature, praising, complaining and yearning for 'home'. The purpose of the setting in Berlin is to transform it in a particular time and place of change. Two monitors are set side by side in an almost raw space in East-Berlin. This place, with its large window facing a grey courtyard, is used as a set for one half of the piece - images for the other part are shot outdoors. The fleeting glimpses are almost entirely close-ups - shot mostly from the 'bird’s’ point of view, furtive and suspicious. Fragments of the video set are left as part of the installation, indicating a process, revealing the illusions. (Joan Jonas)