WRITING POEMS WITH HUGO BALL
22 October, 2007 Exhibition »Hugo Ball: Fuga saeculi«, Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich

The séance with Hugo Ball, one of the fathers of Swiss Dadaism, took place in Zurich in the cellar of the well-known Cabaret Voltaire, where everyone dressed in the cardboard conical caps similar to those worn by Ball during the readings of his poems.

TEXT OF VIDEO RECORDING

AUDIENCE    Spirit of Hugo Ball, come to us. Spirit, you are there?
AUDIENCE    Are you Hugo Ball?
HUGO BALL Yes.
AUDIENCE    Go to the first letter of your name.
AUDIENCE    Really! We have waited for you.
AUDIENCE    Have you married in Bern?
HUGO BALL No.
AUDIENCE    Would you tell us if you met Lenin?
HUGO BALL No.
AUDIENCE    Have you actually died of cancer?
HUGO BALL Sure.
AUDIENCE    Is there a weapon against the pope?
HUGO BALL Yes.
AUDIENCE    Are you the pope?
HUGO BALL No.
AUDIENCE    Is the nihilism a weapon against the pope?
HUGO BALL Yes.
AUDIENCE    We would like to know where the picture of Marcel Janko »Cabaret Voltaire« is.
HUGO BALL Yes.
AUDIENCE    Where?
HUGO BALL I do not know.
AUDIENCE    Is Tristan Tzara is more important than you. Is this right?
HUGO BALL Naturally.
AUDIENCE    Have you created the term DADA?
HUGO BALL Yes.
AUDIENCE    Do you meet God?
HUGO BALL I should think so...