Intimate dealings

For a modest polka-dotted dress in green and white you'll have to spend 10 minutes talking about morals and chastity. A necklace is worth five minutes about a dirty little secret. And for three books, you'll have to tell something you've never told anyone before.

"Of course, I am curious," said 26-year-old Alexandra Mueller, the instigator and organizer of the Berlin's so-called "intimate flea market."

Each conversation is recorded and will later be woven together dramaturgically into a radio play. The moments she enjoys the most are when her conversation partners forget she is there and just keep talking to themselves.

Give and take

"I don't think I'll ever manage to have functioning relationships," said a girl who wanted to be called Sonja. The price tag on the green cap she was "paying for" called for six minutes about a breakup. "In my last relationship everything broke down and we fought every day. (…) It was a slow and painful breakup."

Nils, 24, was willing to share a secret he'd never told anyone before - in return for three second-hand books.

"In seventh grade, it was really important how much experience you had with girls," he told Mueller. "I told my friends I'd slept with a girl, but I hadn't. I invented the story about a girl I'd met at camp. That's really embarrassing for me."

Anther woman talked about her life on the street as a drug addict, said Mueller. "And then there was a French lady who wouldn’t stop talking. She talked to me about her 'inner garden' for 20 minutes, without me asking any questions - that was really weird.'

Mueller is prepared to listen - at least for 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the item she's selling. But she's also ready to talk - not only does she collect secrets, she also accepts items to sell in exchange for personal stories of her own.

For a pair of shoes Mueller talks about where she sees herself in 30 years.

"To me, performance art has always been a way to express myself," she said. "Performance art does not have to be subtle and abstract; it can mean talking to normal people and involving them."

Rethinking data protection

The flea market-based radio play isn't Mueller’s first artistic project. In April 2007 she created a performance called "Don't cry. Work!"

For one week, she did any job she was asked to do - except soliciting. She was surprised about how much people told her about their lives and personal details while she was working for them.

"I had the feeling that people bought my time," she said.

According to Mueller's experience, the information age has made people more willing to share personal information.

"I want people to think about how they give their data to other people," said Mueller. "When they have to tell me stories about their sex life or stuff like that, they get a feeling for this situation of giving data away.

"Maybe in their real life they will think about it too."

One show, two stages

Mueller's two-way secret-telling performances began in August in an art gallery in the Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood of Berlin. In early September, she moved into an old post office in the Neukoelln district, where she intends to stay through Sept. 27.

The old post office is particularly suited to Mueller's concept: In the past, people wrote their secrets down on paper and brought them to the post office to buy a stamp and send them to far-away friend. Today, they meet Müller in the post office and tell their secrets without sealing them.

I wanted to perform in two very different parts of Berlin, she explained: "Prenzlauer Berg is more the Manhattan of Berlin; it's very flashy and there are a lot of young people. Neukoelln is more the Bronx of Berlin; there are a lot of foreigners here."

And the more varied the intimate stories are, the more interesting Mueller's radio play will become. Once it's completed, it will be broadcast by German radio station SWR.

Author: Sabrina Wendling

Editor: Kate Bowen