The Castle (Das Schloss)

Springboard, vaulting horse, mat. Springboard, vaulting horse, mat. K. is working. In this clear sequence of movements, WORX director Jules Head locates the surveyor K. – a trans man on an eternal obstacle course, Sisyphus rolling his rock up the mountain.When K. arrives one evening in a village at the foot of a castle, he is not allowed to stay. He needs permission from the castle. But getting to the officials in charge, let alone the castle, proves more difficult than expected. All paths lead to nowhere—it seems like an endless cycle of failure. But the longer K. stays in the village and tries to get closer to his goal, the more the castle and its officials begin to falter. The bureaucratic system starts to crumble, phone calls can no longer be put through, the officials can no longer keep up with sorting and filing their documents, and a paper snowstorm begins to rage.For "The Castle or We Must Imagine K. as a Happy Man," British author Georgia Bruce combines Franz Kafka's novel fragment "The Castle" (1922) with Albert Camus' essay "The Myth of Sisyphus" (1942) and tells the story of land surveyor K. from the perspective of a trans man. What happens when the recognition of your own identity is tied to a system that does not provide for you? What if the system has perhaps even made it its mission to make your existence as difficult as possible? As K. gradually realizes that he will probably never receive a permit, the castle loses its power. He recognizes the absurdity of his situation: a man who simply wants to be himself—and an authority that does everything in its power to prevent him from doing so. But the castle cannot deny K.'s existence. Camus writes: "The struggle against the summit can fill a human heart. We must imagine Sisyphus as a happy man." Trans people have always existed and always will. So what to do? Carry on. Springboard, vaulting horse, mat. Springboard, vaulting horse, mat. By Kathinka Schroeder