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“It’s too cold for the spirits to live here” has been developed into an expanded cinema performance of 45 minutes. A work-in-progress* version of the performance has taken place in Het Documentaire Paviljoen in the Podium space on 28th of June 2025.
*The work-in-progress version is a complete performance which stands on itself. Some changes will be made in the subtitles to enhance the flow and poetic quality and the tuning of the sound levels to a 5.1. surround version still have to be done. Also the performance can be made slightly shorter or longer, depending on the program in which it will be presented.




Narrative
On October 16th, 1958, a family fled Indonesia. They spent a month at sea aboard the M.S. Sibajak on a voyage to The Netherlands. When they arrived, it was getting winter. Coming from the tropics, the cold was a shock. The family quickly noticed that the spirits who had always been with them in Indonesia were no longer there - they had left them along the journey.

In the ‘work-in-progress' cut of the film, the M.S. Sibajak is reimagined as both a portal and a vessel that sails, not only across oceans, but through time itself - where past, present, and future collapse into one another. Within this space, the lingering presence of the spirits haunts the peripheries. The search for spirits becomes a methodological approach to illuminate complexities of colonial family history that had long remained hidden, literally stowed away in biscuit tins in the attic. By unveiling the family archive, the stories of the ancestors become tangible again. Schift interweaves the archival materials with footage from her recent journey to Indonesia, creating a layered narrative that bridges personal experience with historical displacement.


Performance experience
Part 1: Radio

Part 2: Silence

Part 3: Knife

Part 4: Cutting trees


Conceptual choices

Tripod trees

Floor plan



Physical elements and requirements
10-12 Unrooted trees - Tripods, grey tubes, black cloth, hanging concrete tiles, trees from undeveloped areas (braakliggende grond) in the municipality of Amsterdam, the trees have to come from a place in which they are considered as weeds.

Radio - Sony Dream Machine radio

Recorder/Microphone - Zoom recorder attached to 1 or 2 speakers on the ground that amplify the live sound of the radio. Preferably the speakers should be separate from the speakers that play the sound of the projected film. 

Projector - 6000+ lumen, 16:9 with a wide angle lens

Screen - 6 to 7 meters wide

Sound system - Preferably I use an 5.1 surround system that’s already inside the space.

Space - 80 m2 to 130 m2, a sealing with a hight of 4 meter or more is preferred because of the hight of the trees. Also a space that relates to the colonial history of Amsterdam can add to the experience of the performance.



Costs