The artist Sarah Schwerzmann brings her art installation “08/15 – Death as Everyday Life” to Thun. She sets up her coffin cinema.
The large coffin stands on Waisenhausplatz in Thun for a day. Inside the coffin, a documentary short film is shown in which a crime scene cleaner, a forensic doctor and a police officer from forensics talk about their jobs and thus about death. With her project, the artist Sarah Schwerzmann wants to create a meeting space in which people can talk openly about the topic of death and exchange ideas.
Sarah Schwerzmann has been touring with her art installation “08/15 – Death as Everyday Life” for three years. The artist says: “During this time I got to know a wide variety of people and was able to have countless interesting conversations.”
However, the reactions to the coffin cinema are different. There are people who just look, but then immediately walk past. Others are very curious and ask what it is and what you can do in there. Of course, there are always people who find the coffin a bit macabre. “In these cases, I become curious and ask the people why it is so macabre. This often leads to exciting conversations. The passers-by usually cannot answer the question at all. This reaction is probably somewhat trained by society. ” Breaking these norms is always one of the goals of the coffin cinema, says Sarah Schwerzmann.
