Perspektivwechsel (A shift in Perspective)

Following Ensemble Musikfabrik’s matinée concert with solo pieces by Georges Aperghis, Liza Lim, Enno Poppe and Rebecca Saunders, among others, the Berliner Festspiele’s Musikfest Berlin and field notes invite guests to a discussion round as part of the “Perspektivwechsel” series.

At the artists’ talk, composer Rebecca Saunders and visual artist Ed Atkins talk about the use of voice, language and the spoken or sung word and text in their own work.

Rebecca Saunders (*1967, London) is a leading female contemporary composer. She is especially interested in the relationship between sound and architectonic space. With “Skin” (which premiered in 2016 at the Donaueschinger Musiktage), her first work in a series of compositions with a soprano, she intensified her work with text and the human voice as an instrument. A project that she continues at the Musikfest Berlin with her most recent piece for soprano and “spatialized ensemble” based on Molly Bloom’s monologue in “Ulysses” by James Joyce.

Ed Atkins (* 1982, London) is regarded as an ambivalent representative of a generation of artists who critically reflect upon the fundamental changes in (self-) representation in relation to the rapid development and increasing ubiquity of digital media. Atkins is particularly known for his large-scale video installations, which often combine esoteric monologue, karaoke, grotesque foley and sickly, computer-generated 3D animation. A new, sprawling project, “Old Food”, will open at the end of September at the Martin-Gropius-Bau as part of the Immersion programme. A collection of Atkins’ writing, “A Primer for Cadavers“, was recently published by Fitzcarraldo Editions.

Perspektivwechsel
field notes invites writers, philosophers and visual artists to the Dialog events to discuss commonalities and differences in their creative work.