We Have Delivered Ourselves From the TONAL– Of, with, towards, On J U L I U S EASTMAN

I NVOCATIONS 24.03.–25.03.2018

ARTISTIC DIRECTION Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung CURATOR Antonia Alampi RESEARCH CURATORS Kamila Metwaly and Lynhan Balatbat-Helbock CURATORIAL ASSISTANCE Kelly Krugman PROJECT MANAGEMENT Lema Sikod PROJECT ASSISTANCE Gwen Mitchell COMMUNICATION Anna Jäger and Jörg-Peter Schulze

A project by S A V V Y Contemporary and MaerzMusik – Festival for Time Issues, conceived by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Antonia Alampi and Berno Odo Polzer. New works have been commissioned and produced by S A V V Y Contemporary, co-produced by MaerzMusik – Festival for Time Issues. The project is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

SAVVY Contemporary The Laboratory of Form-Ideas OUTLINE

WE HAVE DELIVERED OURSELVES EXHIBITION 24.03.–06.05.2018 FROM THE TONAL is an exhibition, and OPEN Thu–Sun 14:00–19:00 a programme of performances, concerts and lectures WITH Paolo Bottarelli Raven Chacon that deliberate around concepts beyond the predomi- Tanka Fonta Malak Helmy Hassan Khan Annika Kahrs nantly Western musicological format of the tonal Pungwe (Robert Machiri and Memory Biwa) or harmonic. The project looks at African American The Otolith Group (Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun) , musician and performer ’s Christine Rusiniak Barthélémy Toguo work beyond the framework of what is today under- SAVVY Contemporary stood as minimalist music, within a larger, always gross Plantagenstraße 31, 13347 Berlin and ever-growing understanding of it – i.e. conceptually and geo-contextually. Together with musicians, visual INVOCATIONS I 24.03.2018 16:00–24:00 artists, researchers and archivers, we aim to explore INVOCATIONS II 25.03.2018 11:00–20:30 a non-linear genealogy of Eastman’s practice and his silent green Kulturquartier cultural, political and social weight, and situate his work Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin within a broader rhizomatic relation of musical episte- mologies and practices. In INVOCATIONS I , performers, collaborators, and researchers who have been engaged For the project, new substantial artworks and musical with Eastman’s work and are responsible for much pieces have been commissioned and will be world- of his legacy such as Kodwo Eshun, Dustin Hurt, premiered in Berlin. These include a filmic work , Josh Kun, Mary Jane Leach, George E. Lewis, and performance by Annika Kahrs; a musical composi- The Otolith Group and Christine Rusiniak will deliver tion and a sculptural work by Hassan Khan; a sound lectures and perform new pieces. installation by Pungwe (Robert Machiri and Memory Biwa); and an installation of minimalist drawings It will comprise of two panels in which Eastman’s by Barthélémy Toguo. The exhibition also includes companions will share personal and professional experi­- drawings by Malak Helmy, a film by The Otolith Group ences of working with or on Eastman, as well as a session (Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun), paintings on the entanglements between (minimal) music, by Paolo Bottarelli and a score by Raven Chacon. atona­lity and politics of race, economy, identity and geographies.

INVOCATIONS I will also feature two new world premieres: the lord loves changes, it’s one of his greatest delusions by Annika Kahrs and tainted by Hassan Khan.

In INVOCATIONS II performances and talks on re-rooting and re-routing the history of , will be enacted by sound and music theoreticians and curators Christine Eyene, Jean-Christophe Marti and Sumanth Gopinath in dialogue with artists and musicians Malak Helmy, Sean Griffin, Rocco Di Pietro and Pungwe. On the role of spirituality in minimalist traditions, and the exercising of rituals framed around sex, sexuality and gender discourses, will be engaged with, through performances by Raven Chacon, Sofia Jernberg, and Elaine Mitchener.

SAVVYContemporary – The Laboratory of Form Ideas 02/12 PROGRAMME

INVOCATIONS I prominence, that he and his music disappeared 24.03.2018 16:00–24:00 so suddenly and so thoroughly. silent green Kulturquartier Mary Jane Leach met Eastman in early 1981 and knew him as a colleague, loving his 16:00 INTERLUDE music and entertained by his larger than life perso- WE HAVE DELIVERED nality and wit. In 1998 she began to search for OURSELVES FROM THE his music and research his life, and over the next TONAL: OF, WITH, TOWARDS, twenty years unearthed some of his amazing ON JULIUS EASTMAN music, while at the same time confronting the An introduction to the programme by the cura- enigma that was Julius Eastman the man. In her tors Bonaventure Ndikung, Berno Odo Polzer, talk, Leach will be addressing both the biogra­ Antonia Alampi and Lynhan Balatbat-Helbock. phical and the musical parts of Eastman’s life. Making sense of the growing interest in Julius MARY JANE LEACH is a composer / Eastman’s work. Festivals, publications, exhibi- performer fascinated with the physicality of tions in the last decade have made space for an sound, its acoustic properties and interactions almost forgotten Eastman – catapulting him into with space, and uses difference, combination, the minimalist canon. But who is and what are and interference tones to other-worldly effect. the interests behind these events? Why posthu- Her music has been performed internationally, mously? And especially, how is Eastman framed and recorded on numerous disc labels. She within these contexts, and how can we put the is co-editor of Gay Guerrilla: Julius Eastman and spotlight and the ear on Eastman’s music/work? his Music. 17:00 TALK Petr Kotik MUSIC, MYTH, MAN– S.E.M. ENSEMBLE AND EASTMAN JULIUS EASTMAN The man Eastman and his work are epitomes Petr Kotik met Julius Eastman in 1969 at the of myths. Eastman the genius enfant terrible, State of University in Buffalo, shortly the tragic artist, the provocateur are few of the after his arrival from . Both of them were clichés bestowed on Eastman. This panel invites Creative Associates, members of the Center of Eastman’s companions, researchers, artists the Creative and Performing Arts. Two months and collaborators to ruminate on his life and later, with other Creative Associates, Kotik music, helping us in unfolding the myths and re- founded the S.E.M. Ensemble. From 1971 to humanising Eastman, as well as reviewing his 1974, S.E.M. was a collaborative effort of two legacy. After delivering Eastman from the myths, composers (Eastman and Kotik) and a handful it is crucial to focus on the brilliance and unique- of musicians, the most prominent among them ness of his compositions. were Jan Williams and Garrett List. 16:30 TALK In those years, Eastman and Kotik were Mary Jane Leach inseparable. Their close collaboration was based LIVING ROLES on shared ideas about music, performance, TO THE FULLEST and composition. They lived closely to each Julius Eastman was a larger than life figure in other, which made it possible to develop a close the art world; an artist who, as a gay black man, personal relationship, and Eastman became aspired to live those roles to the fullest. almost a member of Kotik’s family. What really Everyone who met him seems to have a story tied the two composers together, however, were about him, recounting some kind of outrageous their performances and the music they com­ behavior or incident. But he was more than just posed. Both distanced themselves from the a colorful fringe character – he was not only prevailing post-Webern, Darmstadt-driven new a prominent member of New York’s scene that was the norm in the U.S. music scene as a composer, conductor, and and Europe at that time. They both struggled performer, but he also performed in such places on the fringe of the new music scene and their as with the New York Philhar- relationship provided each other an important monic and could be heard in music played encouragement and inspiration. Petr Kotik’s talk in dance clubs. So it is ironic that with all of this will illuminate this period.

03/10 SAVVYContemporary – The Laboratory of Form Ideas PETR KOTIK is a composer/musician 19:00 PERFORMANCE based in New York. In 1970, he founded the WORLD PREMIERE S.E.M. Ensemble along with Julius Eastman. George E. Lewis with Elaine Mitchener (voice), It has since expanded into The Orchestra Sean Griffin (harp), George Lewis (electronics). of The S.E.M. Ensemble. In 2001, Kotik started Texts by Julius Eastman and the festival. In 2005, he founded Keorapetse William Kgositsile the international chamber orchestra Ostravská ELEGY 2018 banda. Elegy emerged from Lewis’s foreword to 17:30 TALK Gay Guerrilla: Julius Eastman and His Music. Dustin Hurt While researching Eastman, Mary Jane Leach, (RE)DISCOVERING EASTMAN: composer and co-editor of Gay Guerrilla, EXPERIENCES AND grew suspicious that “Eastman’s spirit was QUESTIONS FROM trying to sabotage the dissemination of his PRESENTING THE LIFE music.” Robin D. G. Kelley, plagued similarly AND WORK OF while researching Thelonious Monk, wondered JULIUS EASTMAN IN THE aloud if Monk were involved. “Did you ask 21ST CENTURY Thelonious’s permission to write the book?” Dustin Hurt first got the idea of presenting asked a friend. After making this request, things a large-scale retrospective of Julius Eastman's improved. life and work in 2014. Bowerbird, the Phila­ So, with this piece, Lewis is asking Julius’s delphia based non-profit where Hurt is founding permission to create an elegy for him, with the director, had just finished large scale retro­ help of his friends Sean Griffin and Elaine Mitch- spectives of and . ener. They will perform Memorial, a work written Eastman had emerged in both of those for Mitchener in 2015 incorporating text by narratives, mostly through his time in Buffalo. Keorapetse William Kgositsile, poet and activist, Hurt, like many others, had been captivated an influential member of the African National by the recordings released on New World Congress who passed away in January 2018. This Records’ Unjust Malaise. However, scores and elegy is also for him. Returning from exile, he information, even with all that Mary Jane Leach, was named post-apartheid South Africa’s first poet Renee Levine Packer, and others had done laureate and buried as a national hero. Eastman up to that point, were still fairly limited. Hurt and Kgositsile both transformed lives through began with two core questions: What is possible words and music. In this elegy, a multi-channel to present given the fragmented nature speaker array will distribute the sounds of Griffin of Eastman’s surviving work? And, what is the and Mitchener, field recordings, and the voices respon­sible way to contextualize Eastman’s of Eastman and Kgositsile themselves. identity as a gay African-American? During GEORGE LEWIS is Professor of Music this discussion, Dustin Hurt will share how they at Columbia University, a member of the engaged with these questions, and what he AACM since 1971, a Fellow of the American learned over the next few years, reconstructing Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a scores, conducting rehearsals, searching Correspon­ding Fellow of the British Academy, archives, and presenting more than 10 concerts whose works have been performed by the (and 12 works) by Eastman in the last two years. International Contemporary Ensemble, Musik- DUSTIN HURT is a curator, composer, fabrik, and many others. conductor, and founding director of Bowerbird, a -based non-profit presenting 40+ concerts annually. Since 2015 he has re­- – searched, conducted, and curated more MAXIMAL POLITICS than ten concerts of Julius Eastman’s music, A closer look into the intersection of sound and including Julius Eastman: That Which Is Funda­- politics, and the politics of sound. In this panel mental, (Philadelphia, May 2017; New York, contributors look at the political engagements February 2018). and implications of artists and their works – 18:00 PANEL DISCUSSION labelled minimal – like Julius Eastman’s If You George E. Lewis, Mary Jane Leach, are So Smart Why Ain’t You Rich or his Nigger Christine Rusiniak, Petr Kotik and Dustin Hurt Series, Cornelius Cardew’s Revolution Is the Main Trend in the World Today, ’s Come Out BREAK or Louis Andriessen’s De Staat and many others whose political convictions spilled over into their compositions. Beyond what is termed minimal music, the panel also looks at sound in general and music in particular as a space in

SAVVYContemporary – The Laboratory of Form Ideas 04/10 which political thoughts are expressed, but 21:30 LECTURE also how music, irrespective of genre, influences Josh Kun the politicality of the quotidian, as well as BORDER ATONALISM: impact subjectivities and spaces. HOW DOES TONAL 20:00 LECTURE THINKING CHANGE WHEN KODWO ESHUN is a writer, theorist WE TUNE INTO BORDERS? and filmmaker. He teaches at Goldsmiths In listening to geo-political borders as centers College, and on the CCC Research Master Pro­- of sonic knowledge, we hear a different history gramme at HEAD (Geneva School of Art and of music. This talk puts an ear to the US-Mexico Design). In 2002, he and Anjalika Sagar founded border–from wall sound art to mobile DJ The Otolith Group; their work explores the specu-­ sound systems–in proposing border atonalism lative futures and science fictions of planetary as a new mode of critical listening to histories matters and cosmopolitics. of music, race, and nation. JOSH KUN currently a 2018 Berlin Prize BREAK Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin, is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, 21:00 PERFORMANCE and Professor at the University of Southern WORLD PREMIERE California. His publications include Audiotopia: Annika Kahrs Music, Race, and America. As a curator and THE LORD LOVES CHANGES, artist, he has worked with SFMOMA, California IT’S ONE OF HIS GREATEST African American Museum, and more. DELUSIONS 2018 22:00 PANEL DISCUSSION The lord loves changes, it’s one of his greatest The Otolith Group (Anjalika Sagar, Kodwo Eshun), delusions is a performance and film commis- Josh Kun and Sean Griffin sioned for this project and inspired by two pieces by Julius Eastman: The Holy Presence BREAK of Joan D’Arc and Gay Guerrilla, both referencing his engagement with spirituality and religion, 23:00 A COMPOSITION FOR FIVE which he studied intensively. Eastman seems VOICES: WORLD PREMIERE to have been mistrustful of religious institutions; Hassan Khan his thematization of the spiritual comes close TAINTED 2018 to protest, a form of rebellion. As Annika Kahrs tainted is a 40 minute long musical piece for five notes, in Gay Guerrilla Eastman uses the theme singers performed by an ensemble put together and melody of the well-known Lutheran chorale specially for this occasion. It is related to, yet A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, a piece considered distinct from, the sculptural installation of the to be the ultimate protest song of the reforma- same title to be found within the exhibition tion movement. Eastman’s version of the choral We Have Delivered Ourselves from the Tonal. It is shifts between the spiritual, religious and poli­- structured around a libretto and its organization tical, allowing for each element to be translated by the human voice. tainted is a series of move- and re-interpreted within different power struc­- ments that rely on a method of organic compo- tures, and even used against themselves. Kahrs’ sition, where structure and accumulation are the lord loves changes, it’s one of his greatest placed within a living breathing organism. delusions engages with an organ, a choir and its The piece is driven by an obsessive interest in components, slowly performing a deconstruction emotional conditions and their formal transla- of rhythm and melody. Whistling performers tion. tainted wishes to inhabit a place where risk confront the prolonged tone of an organ, moving is treated as a structuring device. The musical between protest gestures and delicate forma- coordinates have been laid down in the form tions of sound. In this performance, whistling of a readable graphic score, but the results were intertwines with music to form a confrontation developed through an intensive month-long with its context of protest, creating a musical process between the singers and the composer. interaction of tensions. tainted considers the possibility that what ANNIKA KAHRS is an artist working separates simple daily comprehensions from primarily with film, performance and instal­ epiphanies may be a very thin line. lation. She examines representation and inter- HASSAN KHAN is an artist, musician pretation; she is interested in both social and and writer. He lives and works in Cairo, Egypt. scientific constructs as well as evolved organic Hassan Khan’s works have been realized thanks relations such as those between humans and to the generous support of Galerie Chantal animals. Kahrs has exhibited internationally, and Crousel. received a number of prizes and scholarships.

05/10 SAVVYContemporary – The Laboratory of Form Ideas INVOCATIONS II 12:00 READING 25.03.2018 11:00–20:30 Sean Griffin and Assaf Hochman silent green Kulturquartier BUFFALO ’70 2007 Sean Griffin will present the complete libretto from his 2006 work referencing Julius Eastman’s RE-ROUTING AND RE-ROOTING encounter with John Cage in Buffalo. Buffalo MINIMAL MUSIC. THINKING ’70 is divided in three acts: the first fictional act ORGANIC MUSIC AND COMPLEXI- deals with John Cage and HIV, act 2 is a musical FYING SOUND GENEALOGIES setting of John Cage’s denouncement of Eastman, Minimal music has been held hostage by and finally act 3 stages their relationship within concepts and narratives that too often negate the context of a 4000 year old anonymous the evident sonic influences from the non-West Egyptian suicide poem called Dispute between e.g. Ghana or India for Steve Reich or La Monte a man and his Ba. Young respectively. The history of minimalism SEAN GRIFFIN Mixing performance framed within and limited to the canon of with inspirational discards, assembled utili- a West would do injustice to the complex work tarian objects, technology, movement and of composers like Eastman and many others. music, Opera Povera director Sean Griffin has This panel looks at possibilities of re-rooting been active internationally; directing, designing, and re-routing minimal music and the necessity composing, arranging, recording, and to deliberate on plural narratives and gene­ conducting. Griffin’s productions have been alogies of music and minimalism. Panelists will featured at MoMA, LACMA, Volksbühne, also look at the physical and cognitive routes the 56th Venice Biennial, Tate Modern, Royal they shared with Eastman, as well as reflect Academy of Arts, The Broad, among many on how music from beyond the West influences others. their practices as curators, scholars or artists. 12:30 LECTURE 11:00 LECTURE Christine Eyene Sumanth Gopinath BODY VESSEL – ON BLACK JULIUS EASTMAN AND THE SONIC HERITAGE, POLITICS OF ENSEMBLE PERCEPTION AND TRANSLATION PERFORMANCE: TOWARDS In this lecture, Christine Eyene will discuss DOLMEN MUSIC elements of All Of Us Have Sense of Rhythm, the This talk examines the performance of a compo- acclaimed exhibition presented in 2015 at David sition by , Dolmen Music (1979) Roberts Art Foundation (London) that established in which Eastman was a key performer and her curatorial interest in music and sound art. contributor. Eastman greatly admired Monk’s She will expand on the concept behind this integrity and helped to shape the composition project, its musical, literary and scholarly sources, through his performative contributions. and how these have inspired her follow-up exhi­- As two queer composer-performers, Monk and bitions Resonance: Second Movement (Printemps Eastman also perceived a kinship on the basis de Septembre, Toulouse, 2016) and Sounds Like of their sexuality and sexual politics, and as Her (New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 2017). Ryan Dohoney notes, Eastman also gave Monk The presentation will draw from what was music theory and counterpoint lessons which initially a non-specialist take on sound art, greatly aided her development as a creative informed by a longstanding exposure to tradi- artist. The broader theoretical question at play tions of Bikutsi (a musical genre from is: what is the political significance of being a Cameroon) and its association with identity contributing ensemble performer? Eastman’s formation and gender narratives. It will demon- commitment to the performing and fictive-nar- strate how an intuitive and speculative approach rative collectivity in Dolmen Music, as a black, led to an examination of rhythmic patterns, queer cis-male in an otherwise all-white group particularly in polyrhythmic structures, and starkly divided by gender (3 cis-women, 3 a deconstruction of dominant histories of sound cis-men), raises questions about race and art and early chapters of minimal music. Using representation and merits further investigation. sources such as writings by UCLA musicologist SUMANTH GOPINATH is Associate Tamara Levitz, Eyene’s revisiting of early compo- Professor of Music Theory at the University of sitions by John Cage (1912–1992), and his first Minnesota-Twin Cities. He is the author of The piece for prepared piano Bacchanale (1938–40), Ringtone Dialectic: Economy and Cultural Form, opens up a host of hidden narratives that and has published on musical minimalism, Marx­- include African American experiences dating ism and music scholarship, country music and from the Harlem Renaissance, echoes of the more. Gopinath is the bandleader for the country/ Negritude movement, and other forms of black bluegrass/Americana band The Gated Community. creative activism.

SAVVYContemporary – The Laboratory of Form Ideas 06/10 CHRISTINE EYENE is a French- Blurring the line between installation and Cameroonian art historian, critic and curator. performance, rhizomatically interweaving She is a Research Fellow in Contemporary Art East­man’s voice with additional archival find- at the University of Central Lancashire, working ings, this new piece provides a broader on Making Histories Visible. Upcoming exhi­ auditory base to learn more about his life. The bitions include Resist! The 1960s protests, complete sonic composition is a cacophony photography and visual legacy at Bozar (Brussels). of non-definitive abstract patterns of recorded Eyene has curated numerous exhibitions inter- and sampled archival materials, digital instru- nationally and published widely. ments and live vocals. 13:30 TALK PUNGWE comprised of Memory Biwa Christine Rusiniak and Robert Machiri, is an interdisciplinary JULIUS EASTMAN: project circling African music with related THE BUFFALO CONNECTION contemporary arts discourses and spaces. Christine Rusiniak’s lecture presents different This collaborative practice is informed aspects of Julius Eastman – including dancer, by their current project Listening to a Listening musician, painter, singer – which were at Pungwe, a participatory public platform documented by Rusiniak while she was living hosting alternative music and sound perfor- in Buffalo in the 1970s. Rusiniak will present mances in South Africa. photographs and reflect on the times, including 15:00 PERFORMANCE the inter-relationships/networking among Artiste (Malak Helmy with Janine Armin) the artistic/scientific communities. I WANT YOU TO CHRISTINE RUSINIAK is an Artiste performs love songs which often American photographer and event organizer, circulate around the trickster figure. The lyrics who coordinated the S.E.M. Ensemble of are based on Helmy’s short stories that which Julius Eastman was a founding member. hold the character imagined so it might be In 1974, Rusiniak co-organized Experiments in understood. At the end of a long year she Art and Technology Exhibit 11011011 Broadcast felt the therapeutic need to breathe through 887574 at the University of Buffalo. Her photo- these words in her body on stage. Armin graphs of Julius Eastman have been shown is a writer and editor who began playing the worldwide. electric guitar to get back to the long draw of magic after a year of projects and relation- LUNCH BREAK ships as intense as they were impermanent. For this performance they use Julius Eastman’s 14:30 PERFORMANCE Fugue no. 1, a score flanked by the phrases, at SAVVY Contemporary “If he love you, he will stay with you” and “If he Pungwe want you, he stay with you” as their starting REGGINIGGER. A PLAY point. ON EASTMAN’S WOR(L)DS Artiste would like to thank Kukuruz Quartett OF DIVINITY 2018 for their collaboration. “Regginigger” in the title of this work plays with ARTISTE is Janine Armin, a writer and the word “nigger” inverted and doubled. It editor based in Amsterdam and Malak Helmy, references Julius Eastman’s introduction to the a visual artist based in Cairo. Helmy also Nigger Series at the contributes drawings to the exhibition. Concert in 1980. The titles in the series reveal provocative humour, word play and more: the unlimited names and expressions of (a) nigger. ALL THE ALMIGHTIES: “Reginnigger” listed in the urban dictionary as, IN PRAISE OF “blacka than the blackest of the black,” denotes THE RITUALS AND THE a de(nig)ratory meaning. It is the inversion of a TRANSCENDENTALS negative which Eastman points to in his address “I have been fighting with the lord for a long long in 1980. With Regginigger, a play on Eastman’s long time. And such that at this point, I really Wor(l)ds of Divinity, a new work commissioned take music as secondary. I like love better myself – for this exhibition, Pungwe explore Eastman’s oh pleasant love – than music.” (Julius Eastman, performative phraseology, his speakerly voice, Interview with David Garland, 1984) as meta-text linked to his sublime instrumenta- While we have observed a resurgence tion of divinity. The piece is also informed by of interests in the work of Eastman, rarely have Listening to a Listening at Pungwe, an ongoing people with an interest in Eastman’s work project in which Memory Biwa and Robert looked at the complexity and intersectionality Machiri aim to track and reimagine transna- of his practice in relation to spirituality, sexuality, tional sonic cultures in Southern Africa. class and gender issues.

07/10 SAVVYContemporary – The Laboratory of Form Ideas Spirituality played an important role in East- 18:30 PERFORMANCE man’s practice as observed in compositions like Elaine Mitchener Praise God From Whom all Devils Grow (1976), THE NUDE VOICE [SOLO I] The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc (1981), With The Nude Voice [Solo I] Elaine Mitchener Hail Mary (1983/84), Buddha (1984), presents a work initially developed and One God (1985-6), or Our Father (1989), revealing presented as a duo with long-term collaborator, an “Auseinadersetzung” with the spiritual and choreographer Dam Van Huynh, in which they the transcendental beyond fixed confessions. explore the dynamics and challenges of vocal Too often one is tempted to think Eastman wants movement art. to possess and is possessed by some supra- The Nude Voice forms part of a current natural forces. These forces are expressed in the project, The Nude Series, in which both artists music, but also in his talks about sexuality and examine the many facets of nudity. The work love. will probe the voice – this most individual and This section will have Eastman as a point intimate of instruments – using time as a tool of departure to reflect on the transcendental to mould vocal production and remove the in music, and on the role of spirituality in notions of inhibition or choice. The spontaneous minimalist traditions, and the exercising of voice will be experienced in a vulnerable rituals framed around sex, sexuality and gender and exposed state of sound, open and ‘naked.’ discourses and practices. Deliberate movement serves as a counter- 16:00 PANEL DISCUSSION point, drawing the viewer’s attention and Raven Chacon, Christine Eyene, revealing the body in a microscopic light. Jean-Christophe Marti, Elaine Mitchener Through slow continuous motion and a seeming and Sumanth Gopinath stillness, all distractions are removed, gradually revealing movement’s inner mechanisms and BREAK resonance. Visitors are invited to witness this ceremonial activity, over the space of twenty 18:00 PERFORMANCE minutes: a folding and unfolding, a reawakening Raven Chacon of space, time and sound. WHISTLE QUARTET ELAINE MITCHENER is an The piece is inspired by songs of an overnight acclaimed experimental vocal-movement artist Navajo ceremony led by a medicine man. and co-founder of the Hawkins/Mitchener The dog whistles are the instruments implying Quartet. Her work SWEET TOOTH is described a music that is not to be shared with the public. as “a vital Black British addition to those seminal It can be argued that, even if it were shared, creative statements of resistance and defiance indigenous music and its powers are still today from the African Diaspora.” June 2018 marks not easily 'heard' or understood. Pitch and her ROH debut in Tansy Davies’ opera CAVE. volume (as much as can be heard from a nearly 19:00 LECTURE inaudible dog whistle) are irreducibly linked Jean-Christophe Marti to the breath and wind of the player; a line then BUDDHA: AN ENIGMA, becomes the only needed notation. AND SOME POSSIBLE KEYS In this musical piece everyone is essen- Jean-Christophe Marti’s lecture will study the tially performing the same part. In group singing fascinating musical notation of Julius Eastman, (especially one that might be sacred) there is referring in particular to Buddha, a short the possibility that the singers begin the learning and enigmatic piece of Eastman’s later period by blending into or hiding within the group, (1984). This serves as an example of the very unsure of their capabilities (or in the case of personal way of Eastman’s writing, and the Navajo music, blending and hiding within their challenges it involves for the players. Addition- elder’s position). Throughout a series of repeti- ally, Marti will propose a methodology intended tions, the singers’ voices will emerge in unique to approach this notation, not technical, but ways, allowing or forcing the beginner to instead a way to access to the complexity and then become the teacher. Thus the performers richness of Eastman’s musical world. form the foundation of the work. JEAN-CHRISTOPHE MARTI RAVEN CHACON is a composer is a French composer and musical director. of chamber music, a performer of experimental He has composed many vocal and choral works, noise music, an installation artist and a member commissioned by Musicatreize, Les Arts of the American Indian arts collective Post- Florissants, and instrumental scores for young commodity. Chacon has presented at ensembles such as C Barré. In 2017 he created the Biennale Musica, Chaco Canyon, and drag requiem in Paris, with pieces for documenta 14, among others. He lives “chœurs d’aventure”: choirs open to anyone and works in Albuquerque, New Mexico. to participate.

SAVVYContemporary – The Laboratory of Form Ideas 08/10 19:30 PERFORMANCES performer, born in Ethiopia. She explores the Rocco Di Pietro “instrumental” possibilities of the voice, digging MESSAGE FROM deep into non verbal vocalizing, split tone JULIUS EASTMAN 2015 singing, pitchless singing and distorted singing. and HAIL MARY 1984 Currently she is working as composer and Message from Julius Eastman was compiled performer on a new contemporary chamber from old audio cassettes from the days of opera work, premiering in 2019. analog answering machines. Di Pietro trans­ cribed several of his recorded phone con­- versations with Julius Eastman, adding memo- ries and letters to form an “In Memorial” piece, without naming it as such. The work is a chronology of Eastman’s last years as well as memories of their early years. When talking with the younger generation about Julius Eastman, Di Pietro noticed how little is actually known about him. Often, when hearing Message from Julius Eastman, people express surprise that Eastman knew the music of Giancinto Scelsi or Jean Genet's plays. Eastman was a dramatic, larger than life char- acter. He was a man of the theatre first and foremost. He not only knew Genet's plays, he acted in some; he not only knew Scelsi's music, he performed in some of it. These are things many younger people could not have known. As Di Pietro’s mentor Eastman often gave him advice, like a big brother, while at other times they argued violently. Message from Julius Eastman illustrates the broadness of the dynamic of Di Pietro and Eastman’s friendship, and ends as a funeral dirge. ROCCO DI PIETRO is a composer, pianist and writer. His music has been played throughout the world at The Kitchen, and many others. He is currently working on an extended five movement Cello Symphony, and on his visual art series derived from cameo portraits of models, Taubes. 20:00 PERFORMANCES Sofia Jernberg UNTITLED [PRELUDE TO THE HOLY PRESENCE OF JOAN D’ARC] 1981 and BUDDHA 1983 Sofia Jernberg will perform and interpret two pieces by Julius Eastman: Untitled [Prelude to The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc] (1981) and Buddha (1983). Untitled [Prelude to The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc] is a solo “structured improvisation” with no score, surviving in a recording made for radio broadcast in Eastman’s apartment. In contrast, the score for Buddha consists of a one page sketch with unspecified instrumentation, with an enigmatic egg-shaped visual layout. Jernberg will work with both of these pieces for her performance. SOFIA JERNBERG is a Swedish experimental singer, composer, improviser and

09 / 1 0 SAVVYContemporary – The Laboratory of Form Ideas MORE INFORMATION CREDITS

savvy-contemporary.com RAVEN CHACON WHISTLE QUARTET facebook.com/savvyberlin PERFORMERS Antonia Alampi Claudia Aliff Anton Dechand Binta Diaw Kelly Krugman Gwen Mitchell

SEAN GRIFFIN BUFFALO ’70 2007 READERS Sean Griffin and Assaf Hochman

HASSAN KHAN TAINTED 2018 World premiere COMPOSITION AND LIBRETTO Hassan Khan SINGERS Lia Naviliat Cuncic Laura Murphy Thomas Noll Suheer Saleh Katja F. M. Wolf DESIGN OF GRAPHIC SCORE Engy Aly PRODUCTION MANAGER Angela Anderson CO-PRODUCED BY Galerie Chantal Crousel

ANNIKA KAHRS THE LORD LOVES CHANGES, IT’S ONE OF HIS GREATEST DELUSIONS 2018 Courtesy of the Artist and Produzentengalerie Hamburg MUSICAL ARRANGEMENT Louis d’Heudieres ORGANIST Ernst Surberg PERFORMERS Jasmina Al Qaisi Faris Amin Caroline Bertram Sarah Blendin Weih Bohr Federica Flux Rottermaier Alexia Hahn Kelly Krugman Jörg Maier-Rothe Kamila Metwaly Alia Mossallam André Mulzer Alex Murphry Warren Niedich Beya Othmani Lili Somogyi Ander Szgamm Elsa Westreicher

GEORGE E. LEWIS ELEGY 2018 VOICE Elaine Mitchener HARP Sean Griffin ELECTRONICS George Lewis TEXTS Julius Eastman and Keorapetse William Kgositsile

S A V V Y Contemporary – The laboratory of form-ideas is an art space, discursive platform, place for good talks, foods and drinks – a space for conviviality. S A V V Y Contemporary situates itself at the threshold of notions of the West and non-West, to understand and deconstruct them. S A V V Y Contemporary has realized a kaleidoscope of art exhibitions, performances, film screenings, lectures, concerts, readings, talks, dances. S A V V Y Contemporary has established a participatory archive on German colonial history, a performance arts documentation centre, a library, a residency program, as well as educational projects with schools. The art space engages in its neighborhood's history and socio-political realities which are entangled with the reflections and discourses of the project.

S A V V Y Contemporary is Elena Agudio Antonia Alampi Jasmina Al-Qaisi Aouefa Amoussouvi Lynhan Balatbat-Helbock Marleen Boschen Federica Bueti Pia Chakraverti-Wuerthwein Binta Diaw Olani Ewunnet Raisa Galofre Johanna Gehring Andrea Gyimesi Sol Izquierdo Anna Jäger Cornelia Knoll Saskia Köbschall Kelly Krugman Nathalie Mba Bikoro António Mendes Kamila Metwaly Gwen Mitchell Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung Abhishek Nilamber Beya Othmani Elena Quintarelli Marleen Schröder Jörg-Peter Schulze Lema Sikod Lili Somogyi Jorinde Splettstößer Marlon Van Rooyen Laura Voigt Elsa Westreicher Johanna Wild

DESIGN Elsa Westreicher FONTS Grow (through a generous partnership with DINAMO Foundry, abcdinamo.com) Neutral (carvalho-bernau.com) S A V V Y Contemporary e.V. Amtsgericht Charlottenburg (Berlin) AZ: VR 31133 B Gerichtstraße 35 13347 Berlin