A delightful performance work that managed to deal with an area of disability studies in a way that was deadpan humorous with the right amount of seriousness. Made you want to read the book for real.

In this Fake book launch David Bergé explores the relationship between artistic expression and themes such as disability studies, physical degeneration, crip-time, aging, and chronic conditions.

David Bergé’s work gives everyday situations and objects new meaning by transforming them into time-based and book-like creations, often with a participatory element. Recently, Bergé has focused on experimenting with participatory and time-based book forms.

MACHINE PARALYSIS starts with “Mechanico” (literally “machine”), a folk dance created by the former employees of the Bialetti factory in a village called Crusinallo, Piedmont area in the North of Italy, referring to the multiple work accidents that occurred in the factory during the 1960-70s. The dance records and honors the memory, difficulties, and crippling effects caused by work accidents suffered by members of their community. This book asks how the binary ability/disability, as well as a consequence of aging or long ailments, are being experienced by differently abled people in their interactions with the world in everyday life.

Bergé’s fake-book-launch format plays with misleading and fictional information that emphasizes the themes of the book.

Duration: 30 min
First presented in the framework of Asbestos Hall, Holland Festival,
Amsterdam, June 26, 2025.

Video documentation available upon request.