Out for a coffee

2020

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During the days of the first lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic between March-May 2020, when I could no longer stay at home, I began meeting friends for a coffee. We would meet outdoors, one on one, each one brought their own coffee and while sitting each one on the opposite edge of a bench, we talked about life, the specific time we were living in and anything else that came about. This usually brought us to stroll around the neighbourhood, while keeping distance and masks on, guided by the specific mood of that specific moment we met. With Out for a coffee I proposed to do the same, only with a stranger. I prepared fresh coffee according to the preferences of the participating person who communicated in advance how they liked their coffee (with or without milk, soy milk / cow milk, with or without sugar etc), carried it down with me to our meeting point - the bench in front of my apartment - where we sat, drank and chatted in associative manner about the unique times we were in. From there, I guided the person to wander with me around the neighbourhood, without talking, physically present next to each other, giving space to the intimacy and anything else that that situation produced. The activity finished in a gradual change of perspective, looking down at the streets from a building’s roof and resuming the shared time.

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Conceived and performed by: 
May Zarhy

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Support:

Exit Strategies Festival, Tel Aviv Municipality.

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Presentations:

28 - 30.5.2020 | Exit Strategies Festival, Tel Aviv Israel.

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