beyond repair: Lecture by Nida Ghouse

Open Denial of the False Belief of a Disenchanted Modernity through the Testimony of Blackness as Criminality, Presented to the Miserable and Pitiful Free World in Memory of its Error

I wrote about the dancing plague that occurred in the medieval city of Strasbourg during the summer of 1518 as disrupting the rhythm of daily life through rhythm itself. What I found was a structural inscription of a collective resistance that could never have been organised in advance. I want to talk about this extraordinary event in relation to popular rebellions of the time, such as the Bundschuh uprisings (1493–1517) leading up to the German Peasants’ War (1524–1525). Perhaps we will glimpse what was irretrievably lost to a way of life squeezed from both sides of the emerging Christian and class divides at the dawn of modernity. I propose that all this has a bearing in no small measure on the situation of people coming to Europe from Africa today.
Nida Ghouse is a writer living in Berlin. Her essay “The Whistle in the Voice” appears in the publication Ankersentrum (Surviving in the ruinous ruin) accompanying Natascha Süder Happelmann’s presentation for the German Pavilion.

beyond repair: Lecture by Avery F. Gordon

The Plantation and the Prison

A figure with a stone head walks through two landscapes. In one, suburban German sidewalks and paths yield, at a distance, quiet views of residential buildings surrounded by barbed wire and guarded gates. In the other, windy Puglian motorways and tomato fields make for a noisier more industrial ramble. What links the plantation and the prison historically and theoretically? This talk will attempt to answer the question.

Avery F. Gordon is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Visiting Professor at Birkbeck School of Law, University of London. Her work focuses on radical thought and practice and she writes about captivity, enslavement, war and other forms of dispossession and how to eliminate them. She serves on the editorial committee of the journal Race & Class and is the co-host of “No Alibis,” a weekly public affairs radio programme on KCSB FM Santa Barbara.

Konzert / Concert Tisha Mukarji, Elnaz Seyedi, Jessica Ekomane

Teil des musikalischen Rahmenprogramms mit den Komponist*innen und Musiker*innen, die zu Natascha Süder Happelmanns Klanginstallation tribute to whistle im Deutschen Pavillon beigetragen haben /
Part of the musical accompanying programme with recent compositions of the composers and musicians who have contributed to Natascha Süder Happelmann’s sound installation tribute to whistle in the German Pavilion.
Kuratiert von / Curated by Manuela Benetton

Tisha Mukarji ist eine der profiliertesten Inside-Pianistinnen der zeitgenössischen Musikszene. Im Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello präsentiert sie zwei Kompositionen aus einer Serie für Kammerensembles, mit der sie 2015 begann und die inzwischen in Los Angeles und London gespielt und aufgenommen wurden.
Elnaz Seyedi stellt ihre jüngsten Kompositionen in einer Aufführung des Kölner Ensembles Trio Abstrakt vor sowie ein Stück für Klarinette und Akkordeon. Atmosphärisch und spirituell, inspiriert von Literatur ebenso wie von bildender Kunst, erkunden Seyedis Stücke die Vorstellungen von Raum, Zeit und Distanz und stellen die individuelle Perspektive auf alles, was existiert, in Frage.
Jessica Ekomane präsentiert eine quadrophone elektroakustische Komposition, in der sie Elemente der Psychoakustik, traditioneller Musik und Gestalt-Eigenschaften kombiniert, um psychologische wie physische Reaktionen auf Sound zu erforschen. Einer Dramaturgie folgend, arbeitet sie oft mit Kontrasten, vom Geräusch zur Melodie, von minimalen zu komplexen rhythmischen Strukturen – so ergibt sich eine sich stetig verändernde Klangkulisse, in dem die Zuhörer*innen sich endlos treiben lassen können.

Inside Pianist Tisha Mukarji presents two pieces from a composition series for chamber ensemble focusing on aspects of the reading and performance of text scores. Using graphic and text notation, the series began in 2015 as a commission by a.pe.ri.od.ic ensemble in Chicago and has since been played and recorded in Los Angeles and London.
Elnaz Seyedi presents her recent compositions, performed by Cologne-based ensemble for contemporary music Trio Abstrakt, and another piece for clarinet and accordion. Atmospheric and spiritual, inspired by literature and visual arts, Seyedi’s compositions explore notions of time, space and distance, and question the individual perspective towards all that is existent.
Jessica Ekomane presents a quadriphonic electroacoustic composition in which she combines elements of psychoacoustics, Gestalt and traditional music to investigate the psychological and physical responses to sound. Following a narrative flow, the sound often operates through contrasts: from noise to melody, from minimal to complex rhythmical structures. The result is an ever-changing soundscape in which the listener could float endlessly.

beyond repair: LECTURE PERFORMANCE & WORKSHOP by egan chan and stefan pente

carte blanche (white marble mistakes)

Tracing lineages of the white marble sculpture from antiquity to the renaissance, we observe white marble’s influence on representations of whiteness, idealized (white, male) bodies, as well as the facilitation of contemporary white supremacist thought. We navigate questions surrounding bodies which sit heroicized in collective consciousness – youthful, heteronormative, cisgender, white – and individual bodies with their capabilities, limitations, sensualities etc. shaped and determined by the subject.
egan chan & stefan pente – artform: performance / visual art; place of birth: boat; year of birth: twenty eighteen; homebase: Berlin / Singapore; ethnicity: none; gender: trouble (biographies borrowed from http://bioswop.net)

The event will take place at Orto delle Vignole.
Shuttle service from Vaporetto station Certosa available. Please confirm your attendance at beyondrepair@possest.de

beyond repair: TALK by Ashkan Sepahvand

(her) vision must be protected

An American in Athens. A Persian demon. A German faggot. The Libyan sibyl. The names of plants and flowers, innumerable, repeated. A secret, a riddle, an oracle. I want to be left alone, and yet the men come and go, a new one each day. Burial mounds. The gay plague. The oleander, the palm. A papyrus reed, a walking stick, an arduous journey. Seeds of knowledge sown, salt and sand, dust and ash, bone and shell. The unexpected, or, how to die? Traces, or, what is left behind? A portrait, her eyes look down, she is holding a bouquet. She is beautiful. Being acted upon, losing presence, the horizon of crisis. Ruins, recovery. Death, awakening. No movement, no thing. Casting out, calling forth. What are we keeping? What are we letting go?
Ashkan Sepahvand is a writer.

The event will take place at Orto delle Vignole.
Shuttle service from Vaporetto station Certosa available. Please confirm your attendance at beyondrepair@possest.de

beyond repair: TALK by Marina Vishmidt

Juddering Reflexes: Stories of Ruined Part-Objects

The stakes of fascist positions that position themselves on a cultural and aesthetic terrain are increasingly spelled out in terms of liberation, “taking back control,” and transcendence or transgression of the status quo. Though these representations have evident historical roots that divide their proponents as well as their critics, they are also positioned as uniquely contemporary in their emphasis on restoring a politics of self-realisation argued to have been forsaken by the “authoritarian left,” as well as the tendency to indulge in fantasies of universal reason that have more to do with capitalist eugenics and neo-reactionary data science than the fetishized Enlightenment public sphere. The fetish of rationality can then be seen as the acceptable face of the apocalyptic mysticism that prevails in many of these circles, now as in the 19th century. The sovereign individual is the main vehicle for this fetish, which dissembles and mediates the desire for death and the obedience characteristic of (here a speculative) fascist psychology.
The presentation will enquire after the structural as well as ideological determinants of this individual as a ruin spectacularised by the escalating eco-social crisis, and which is offered as a line of defense from both the politics of identity and non-identity embodied by a hegemonic left, and what forms of collective practice have been cutting through the heat and noise of these juddering reflexes.

Marina Vishmidt is a writer and editor. She teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her work has appeared in South Atlantic Quarterly, Ephemera, Afterall, Journal of Cultural Economy, Australian Feminist Studies, and Radical Philosophy, among others, as well as a number of edited volumes. She is a member of the Marxism in Culture collective.

RADIOSENDUNG / RADIO PROGRAMME con-tribute (1/3): Maurice Louca & DJ Marfox

Mitschnitt von Maurice Loucas Konzert anlässlich der Eröffnung des Deutschen Pavillons, mit der Band Elephantine / Recording of Maurice Louca’s concert on the occasion of the opening of the German Pavilion with the band Elephantine
Neue Tracks von / New tracks from DJ Marfox

Der Musiker und Komponist Maurice Louca ist einer der produktivsten und experimentierfreudigsten Protagonisten der aufstrebenden Kunstszene Ägyptens. Freie Improvisation, Cosmic Jazz, tranceartige traditionelle Musik, arabische Melodien und Minimalismus treffen bei ihm aufeinander, sodass die Grenzen zwischen Komposition und Improvisation in atmosphärischen Arrangements verschwimmen.
DJ Marfox ist das Pseudonym des Produzenten und DJs Marlon Silva, Schlüsselfigur in Lissabons afro-portugiesischer Elektroszene. Die Wurzeln von DJ Marfox’ Musik liegen in der Atmosphäre der „African Nights“ von Lissabons Randbezirken, wo sich westafrikanischer Zouk an brasilianischer Pagode und kommerziellem R&B reibt.

The musician and composer Maurice Louca is one of the most prolific and adventurous figures in Egypt’s thriving experimental arts scene. Elements of free improvisation, cosmic jazz, trancelike traditional music, Arabic melody and minimalism meet in his wholly unique vision, blurring the borders between composition and improvisation with gorgeously atmospheric results.
DJ Marfox is the alias of the producer and DJ Marlon Silva, a key figure on Lisbon’s Afro-Portuguese electronic scene. The origins of his music lies in the atmosphere of Lisbon’s African Nights on the edges of the city, where West African zouk rubs up against Brazilian pagode and commercial R’n’B.

Produktion: / Produced by: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen / Deutschlandfunk Kultur 2019

RADIOSENDUNG / RADIO PROGRAMME tribute to whistle

Radiofassung der Klanginstallation im Deutschen Pavillon / Radio version of the sound installation at the German Pavilion

Metakomposition / Meta-composition: Natascha Süder Happelmann
Kompositionen / Musical contributions: Jessica Ekomane, Maurice Louca, DJ Marfox, Jako Maron, Tisha Mukarji, Elnaz Seyedi
Ton / Sound: Martin Eichberg, Nicholas Bussmann
Produktion / Produced by: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen / Deutschlandfunk Kultur 2019

RADIOSENDUNG / RADIO PROGRAMME con-tribute (2/3): Jessica Ekomane & Jako Maron

Mitschnitt von Jessica Ekomanes Konzert und Jako Marons Liveset aus dem Rahmenprogramm des Deutschen Pavillons /
Recording of Jessica Ekomane’s concert and Jako Maron’s live-set from the accompanying programme of the German Pavilion

Die Komponistin, Musikerin und Soundkünstlerin Jessica Ekomane kombiniert Elemente der Psychoakustik, traditioneller Musik und Gestalt-Eigenschaften, um psychologische wie physische Reaktionen auf Sound sowie den Umgang der Zuhörenden mit bestimmten Klangeigenschaften oder räumlichen Situationen zu erkunden.
Jako Maron ist als ›Sound-Alien‹ der Insel La Réunion bekannt, dem es gelingt, Tradition mit Experiment zu reimen. Er nutzt modulare Synthese, Drum Machine und Crackle Box, um Maloya und Séga zu verwandeln und neu zu erfinden: die zwei Folkgenres der Insel, deren Ursprünge auf afrikanische Sklavengemeinschaften zurückgehen.

The composer, musician and sound artist Jessica Ekomane combines elements of psychoacoustics, Gestalt and traditional music to explore psychological and physical responses to sound as well as the listeners’ engagement with a given sound feature or spatial information.
Jako Maron is known as “sound alien” from the island of La Réunion who makes tradition rhyme with experimentation. He uses modular synthesis, drum machines and a crackle box to reinvent and mutate Maloya and Séga, La Réunion’s folk genres whose origins trace back to African slave communities.

Produktion: / Produced by: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen / Deutschlandfunk Kultur 2019

RADIOSENDUNG / RADIO PROGRAMME con-tribute (3/3): Tisha Mukarji & Elnaz Seyedi

Konzertmitschnitte aus dem Rahmenprogramm des Deutschen Pavillons / Concert recording from the accompanying programme of the German Pavilion

Tisha Mukarji ist eine der profiliertesten Inside-Pianistinnen der zeitgenössischen Musikszene. Auf einer längere Reise durch Europa und den Nahen Osten erkundete sie unterschiedlichste Stile und künstlerische Sprachen. Ihr Stil ist von einer tiefen Kenntnis des Instruments geprägt, vom Sinn für Timing und Raum ebenso wie für Stille.
Elnaz Seyedi komponiert Kammermusik zwischen Strenge und Zartheit. Inspiriert von Literatur, Architektur und bildender Kunst, erforscht Seyedis Arbeit die Vorstellungen von Subjektivität, Erinnerung und Distanz und hinterfragt den individuellen Blick auf die Realität. Zurzeit ist sie Composer in Residence an der Internationalen Ensemble Modern Akademie in Frankfurt am Main.

Artist and composer Tisha Mukarji is one of the finest inside pianists on the contemporary scene today. After studying contemporary music, her enthusiasm for improvisation was ignited during a circuitous route through the Middle East and Europe, where she encountered and collaborated with a variety of musicians with very different styles and artistic languages. Her style is distinct and defined by a great understanding of the instrument, coupled with a sense of timing and attentiveness that give sounds breathing space and a cohesiveness of structure.
Elnaz Seyedi composes chamber music for selected ensembles. Atmospheric and spiritual, her compositions move between the severe and the delicate. Inspired by literature, architecture and visual art, Seyedi explores the notions of subjectivity, memory and distance in her work, and questions the individual perspective towards all that is existent.

Produktion: / Produced by: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen / Deutschlandfunk Kultur 2019

BOOK PRESENTATION IN BERLIN

Archive Books and the German Pavilion will present the publication Ankersentrum (surviving in the ruinous ruin), released in May on the occasion of the Pavilion’s opening.

The editors, artist Natascha Süder Happelmann and curator Franciska Zólyom, will be present accompanied by contributors David Jassey, Aino Korvensyrjä and Rex Osa. A discussion of the book’s contents will be followed by music played by Jessica Ekomane, one of Natascha Süder Happelmann’s collaborators for the sound installation tribute to whistle.

Join us for conversation, music, drinks and food at the space of Savvy Contemporary.

WARM-UP – CAMPO COMBO SPECIAL, VENICE

One day before the music event at Oficine 800, Giudecca, DJ Marfox will play with local DJ Nicolas Gaunin at Combo’s in Venice. Videos by Natascha Süder Happelmann will be projected.

Join us at Combo’s space, Ex Convento dei Crociferi in Cannaregio, early evening.

Admission free.

MUSIC EVENT WITH DJ MARFOX IN VENICE

With a night of frenetic rhythms and joyful energy at the spaces of Oficine800, ex Magazzino Bullo, in Venice Giudecca the German Pavilion will celebrate inclusivity and respectful thinking, showcasing a global line-up of adventurous artists sharing a spirit of equity and sense of community.

Dj Marfox is one of the contributors to Natascha Süder Happelmann’s sound installation tribute to whistle. The star of Afro-Portuguese club-ready music will come to Venice with African-influenced dance music combined with traditional house and techno.
Along with DJ Marfox we are hosting two live sets by East African artists of Nyege Nyege label: the prominent women MCs from Uganda MC Yallah with producer Debmaster and the energetic Singeli artist Jay Mitta joined on stage by MC Anti Virus.
errorsmith will close the night.

RSVP: mail@deutscher-pavillon.org

For this event the German Pavilion has partnered with a network of local initiatives: Combo, Corte Supernova, PASE, Zero and Valorizzazioni Venezia
as well as with Aperitivo al Verde for food and drinks.

Doors open 7 p.m., concerts start at 8 p.m.

Book presentation in Turin

Archive Books and the German Pavilion would like to invite you to a presentation of the publication “Ankersentrum (surviving in the ruinous ruin)”.

Artist Natascha Süder Happelmann and curator Franciska Zólyom will talk about the book together with one of the authors, Nida Ghouse, and publisher Chiara Figone. Archive Kitchen will serve dinner to continue the discussion in a convivial setting.