Performative Video-Choir-Sound-Installation
19. July 2024 at 20:00 St. Elisabethkirche Invalidenstraße 4A, 10115 Berlin Tickets
20. July 2024 at 20:00 St. Elisabethkirche Invalidenstraße 4A, 10115 Berlin Tickets
The evening centres on the voice as a cross-generational testimony of human experience and the transformative power of singing together.
Three large screens hang like windows in the room of St Elisabeth’s Church – they show videos of female singers and landscapes from the Ukrainian region of Luhansk. Berlin and Ukrainian singers (vocal composition Paulina Kühling) interact with the videos and attempt to bridge the insurmountable distance to the villages occupied by Russia since 2022 through singing
Together with the multi-channel sound composition (Martyna Poznańska) of field recordings from Luhansk and the video composition (Matthias Schönijahn), they create an immersive space. Guests are invited to be touched by the vibrant power of these haunting voices that have been shaped by life.
Im Zentrum des Abends stehen die Stimme als generationsübergreifendes Zeugnis menschlicher Erfahrungen sowie die transformative Kraft des gemeinsamen Singens.
Wie Fenster hängen drei große Leinwände im Raum der Sankt Elisabethkirche – auf ihnen sind Videos von Sängerinnen und Landschaften der ukrainischen Region Luhansk zu sehen. Berliner und ukrainische Sängerinnen (Komposition Chor Paulina Kühling) treten mit den Videos in Beziehung und versuchen, die unüberwindbare Distanz zu den seit 2022 russisch besetzten Dörfern gesanglich zu überbrücken.
Gemeinsam mit der Mehrkanal-Klangkomposition (Martyna Poznańska) von Fieldrecordings aus Luhansk und der Videokomposition (Matthias Schönijahn) erschaffen sie einen immersiven Raum. Die Gäste sind eingeladen, sich von den eindringlichen, vom Leben gezeichneten Stimmen und ihrer vitalen Kraft berühren zu lassen.
With singers from the Luhansk villages Bilolutzk Lyudmyla Shulyak, Petro Chepelukha, Valentyna Derkach, Lyudmyla Horshkova, Oksana Hutnyeva, Lyudmyla Ilarionova, Tetyana Kandyba, Yuriy Kuznetsov, Yuriy Maksymenko, Anna Nevidoma, Nataliya Shepilova, Oleh Volkov, Tetyana Zaytseva // Osinove Ol’ha Bushlya, Lyubov Molochkova, Mariya Sahradova (†), Zinayida Skovorodka, Kateryna Tkachenko // Horodyschtsche Tetyana Hrabchuk, Lyubov Kornienko, Rayisa Shuhaylo, Svitlana Konovalova
With Berlin based and Ukrainian singers: Agnieszka Bułacik, Ewa Brokos, Claudia Eckstein, Mina Djordjević, Katharina Fischer, Agnieszka Kucharska, Natalia Latecka, Julia Legezynska, Joana Katarzyna Pietras, Ola Zielińska, Vlada Rusina, Tereza Yakovyna, Vira Khorsun, Igor Dimitrijew
Artistic direction, camera, video editing, stage design and direction Matthias Schönijahn // choir direction, composition choir Paulina Miu Kühling // composition, sound design Martyna Poznańska // dramaturgy, choreographic collaboration Rose Beermann, Constantin von Thun// field/choirrecordings – Johannes van Bebber // dramaturgy video Ljupcho Temelkovski // light design Maika Knoblich, Constantin von Thun // outfits Ewa Brokos // video projection, sound, technical set-up Johannes Plank, Anna Petzer // scientific consulting Vlada Rusina // production management Birgit Voigt // production management Ukraine Valera Zherih // graphic design, artistic assistance, translation Tereza Yakovyna
Background
In April – May 2021, the artist and director Matthias Schönijahn and a German, Polish, Ukrainian team (Vlada Rusina, Tereza Yakovyna, Valera Zherih, Paulina Miu Kühling, Johannes van Bebber) traveled to the north of the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk. In the eighth year of the war and under the omens of an imminent invasion by Russia, which had already massed troops along the eastern border, the team met with singing collectives.
Together they made video-, vocal- and fieldrecordings that became the basis of the installation „Who’d have thought that snow falls“.
Under the direction of Paulina Miu Kühling, a project choir of amateur singers was founded, which explored their voices with the technique of „open“ singing and learned songs from Luhansk. The Berlin-based sound artist Martyna Poznańska developed several ambient compositions based on field recordings made during the trip, which connect the chants and the videos.
For the revision of the project in 2024, refugee Ukrainian singers also joined the project.
World premiere 2021 St Elisabeth’s Church
Further shows in 2022 in Frankfurt LAB, Unidramfestival
Potsdam and Berlin and 2024 in Elisabethkirche Berlin
