The Ghost of the Sensuous Physician

It takes place in the ruined lecture hall of the museum where Rudolf Virchow taught his students the basics of scientific medicine. Destroyed during the Second World War, today only the ruins remain, which will become a resonating space for Damian Rebgetz.


The performance is inspired by the dramatically titled essay "The Death of the Sensuous Chemist" by science historian Lissa Roberts. In it, she describes the transformation of chemistry from a physical, manual and sensual practice to a mechanized science based on instruments and precise measurement. Based on this, Rebgetz attempts in his performance to conjure up the ghosts of a medical history that can be experienced by the senses (patients and doctors alike).


The result is a surreal setting. The performance begins with a solo by Damian Rebgetz. In ghostly apparition, he wanders through the audience and combines fragments of newly interpreted pop songs and fragments from Lissa Robert's essay with piano arrangements by Paul Hankinson, inspired by Schumann, Bach, Mozart and Ravel, whereby time and space seem to be dissolved.


This culminates in the monstrous appearance of Anton Spielmann. The special atmosphere blurs the boundaries between performer and audience, music, light and space, past and present.