Where I live

In Where I Live, Susi Jirkuff traces a person’s sudden descent, not only narratively, but also visually, image by image. Right at the start, the protagonist says, “I’ve been living one floor below since yesterday.” But no one around her reacts to this extraordinary situation. In Jirkuff’s animation, based on a story by Ilse Aichinger (1921–2016), the parts of the house develop a life of their own. Along with the handrail and the wallpaper, even the white drawing surfaces are affected: Jirkuff’s charcoal strokes and the coal dust from Aichinger’s text, color them gray (after all, coal is stored in the cellar where the narrating voice ultimately ends up).