NO GO

The performance “NO GO” by Angie Hiesl and Roland Kaiser explores the mechanisms of discriminatory and exclusionary practices in public urban spaces. At its center is the fence—a simple yet striking object that the performers use as a partner for interaction and as a symbol of societal boundaries. The performance allows viewers to experience how violations within the social fabric can take effect—whether subtly or overtly—and demonstrates that resistance is possible. Ottoplatz, a high-traffic transit hub with a history closely tied to the deportations of Jewish people as well as Sinti and Roma, serves as a deliberately chosen space for this exploration. Amid anonymity and mobility, an intervention emerges that makes dividing lines visible while simultaneously opening up new ways of thinking about how individual and collective self-assertion can be articulated. The ensemble work by Cilai Herrmann, Mojtaba Izadizad, Bibiana Jiménez, and Matthias Weiland combines performative gesture and social analysis into a moment of disruption that eludes rapid consumption and reveals social processes in all their ambivalence. “NO GO” thus marks a stance in urban space that stands against alienation and for solidarity, without resorting to simplistic interpretive frameworks.