Just because I’m quiet, doesn’t mean I’m calm (2020)
Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich
Performance in group exhibition «Werkschau 2020 – Canton of Zurich Work Grants»
Dramaturgy: Carina Premer
![Just because I’m quiet, doesn’t mean I’m calm artist standing in front of white fabrics with colored text printed them](/sites/default/files/styles/default_m/public/2023-01/200927_Robert_Steinberger0014.jpg?itok=_w0ctL6g)
Listen, they are alone at a crossroads. They’re not at home in their own home.
![Just because I’m quiet, doesn’t mean I’m calm artist sits on floor in front of large fabric with texts on it and reads from it](/sites/default/files/styles/default_m/public/2023-01/200927_Robert_Steinberger0138.jpg?itok=WPgp20ju)
I could lose my parents’ love, the support from the society, my social standing, or I could even be discriminated against. I was afraid of this.
![Just because I’m quiet, doesn’t mean I’m calm artist holds folded fabric with both hands](/sites/default/files/styles/default_m/public/2023-01/200927_Robert_Steinberger0033.jpg?itok=Ih5EQmSc)
![Just because I’m quiet, doesn’t mean I’m calm artist folds fabric on metal bench](/sites/default/files/styles/default_xl/public/2023-01/200927_Robert_Steinberger0034.jpg?itok=rhpClRJc)
It might have been my first encounter with an LGBT person. What shocked me was that she lived a good life.
![Just because I’m quiet, doesn’t mean I’m calm artist kneeling in front of fabric with text printed on it and speaking](/sites/default/files/styles/default_m/public/2023-01/200927_Robert_Steinberger0303.jpg?itok=IzX8dkd2)
![Just because I’m quiet, doesn’t mean I’m calm artist folds large fabric](/sites/default/files/styles/default_xl/public/2023-01/200927_Robert_Steinberger0257.jpg?itok=NZNfyJjg)
Empathy can’t solve everything. Many of the most pernicious problems are structural, not individual, and no amount of individual empathy can solve them.
![Just because I’m quiet, doesn’t mean I’m calm artists walks towards fabrics with texts on them hanging on clothes line](/sites/default/files/styles/default_m/public/2023-01/200927_Robert_Steinberger0328.jpg?itok=hZXT_o2S)
Photos © Yoshiko Kusano 2020
Texts, statements & stories drawn and remixed from Beyoncé, Joga Jia / 贾丛扬, Madonna, Rebecca Solnit, Ocean Vuong, Virginia Woolf, QQ / Qin Qin覃琴。, Jamil Zaki