"Kra" theater in Graz

Taking over the world with Taylor Swift

Nora Köhler in "Mission Mother Teresa"

(Bild: Maria Schneider)

The performance duo "Kra" explores the life of the saint in the Graz Kunsthalle with "Mission Mother Teresa" and ends up with a glittery body, overknee boots and a sequined bishop's hat. Can the church still achieve world domination, or is it only possible with Taylor Swift?

Kras' mission remains the same as when the performance duo with Nora Köhler and Vera Kopfauf first appeared: "We solve all the world's conflicts." This time, the journey begins in Tirana in Albania, the country where the family of canonized Mother Teresa comes from - more precisely, on the forecourt of the airport, in the background the neon sign of an American fast food chain, in the foreground the statue that is supposed to represent the famous white veil of the nun, but above all looks like a two-metre-high vulva. "Cool," says Nora Köhler.

It is this innocent curiosity in Köhler's gaze that gives "Mission Mother Teresa" and many of her other performances their appeal. In the video, Köhler - dressed all in purple - poses on Mother Teresa Square, in front of Mother Teresa Hospital, interviewing Albanians about the legacy of the saint, who then suddenly appears very worldly. In between, she performs a kind of mass, lights incense, dances and sings to synth pop in a flowing purple chasuble. "Kr-Amen", she says and passes the collection basket through the rows.

The high priestess of pop music
Köhler logically ends this ludicrous fantasy of omnipotence with the woman who currently rules the world, the high priestess of pop music: Taylor Swift. "Mission Mother Teresa" is funny, imaginative and probably provocative enough to irritate some Catholics, and yet we have already seen productions with more rough edges from Kra and the closely associated Planetenparty Prinzip. 

Further dates: October 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 p.m. each night, Kunsthalle Graz (Conrad-von-Hötzendorfstr. 42a).