ABSTRACT
Die Orchidee im Plastik Karton ist Die Blumen für Die Damen, made by Liz Aggiss and Billy Cowie in 1988 for 13 women students (with subsequent versions in 1989 and 1999 for Aggiss/Cowie’s company Divas), uses a German/English language tape as the basis for its soundtrack and choreography. Aggiss, having trained with the ex-Wigman dancer Hanya Holm and the Austrian dancer Hilde Holger, is known for her fascination with German subject matter. This is evident in works such as Grotesque Dancer (1986),1 Eleven Executions (1988),2 Dead Steps Die (1988)3 and Dorothy and Klaus (1989),4 where aspects of German cabaret, theatre and movies are explored. Die Orchidee plays mischievously with the German phrases on the language tape deliberately chosen to reflect and educate about elements of German culture. Through its choreography and soundtrack the piece exposes the gaps between language and meanings in a deconstructive manner, revealing the undecidability of meaning. By humorously troubling and disrupting conventional closures of meaning, Die Orchidee reveals sexism in the language and the patriarchal nature of the culture. This gives it a political edge typical of Aggiss and Cowie’s work.
