ZÜNDELN 2020

Bei ZÜNDELN bekommen regionale Künstler die Chance einen oder mehrere Gäste einzuladen, um ergebnisoffen eine künstlerische Idee zu erproben. Das Schaffensgebiet des jeweiligen Künstlers ist dabei offen: Musik, Bildende Kunst, Tanz oder Theater können sich vereinen und sich zu völlig neuen Beziehungen verknüpfen.

I was honored to be chosen as the artist of 2020 to be awarded a 10-day residency in Alte Feuerwache Mannheim, supported by Kulturamt Mannheim. In the time of the pandemic, this very special time, it was a great pleasure to get to invite percussionist and composer Kasia Kadłubowska, dancer Cecilia Ponteprimo and visual artist Benjamin Jantzen to play and research an interdiscplinary work where all elements would develop simultaneously and influence each other in the most direct way possible.

Thank you to Kulturamt Mannheim and to Alte Feuerwache for suprporting me and us!

This is what came out of our 10-day residency. Enjoy!

P R O X I M A L D I S T A N C E

Distorted Transmission
We are being screened all the time everywhere
How does technology translate us?
The body is limited by technology
It wants to break out.
But that disturbs the surveillance

The heartbeat is the leash.
You try to keep it
but you also want to move away from it
The chords give you more freedom
Creating a new frame for you

But you’re being observed
By a recording of yourself.
Evidence of past moments
Memories that are still there.
That you can relive.
They are chosen.
In the here and now the choice is yours.

Change of space
In space
Out in the space
A wide landscape
Windy and maybe cold
Even though it sparkles
It’s far away

Gravity is pulling
In this wide open room
Flashing back
Until you arrive

Going into routine
In repetition and difference
Nothing twice
Though always the same

It’s bright
Offering openness
While covering and uncovering
Slowly increasing range
Coming back to where you started.

Searching for a stable place
That never comes
While snippets of memories appear
Following you like a shadow
You hold onto something
And you can’t let it go.

The ground provides security
With parts of you are falling
Until you surrender

Putting yourself out there
With the traces of what’s now past
Your breath becoming more and more
Controlled by the outside
While you’re being screened
Trying not to lose it.

You’ve been translated
Into bits and pixels
A memory of flesh and rhythms
Slowly winding up

Chanting over the roaring sound
Melting into a small pulse
Sometimes it almost breaks
It’s fragile
But carries a lot.

Text: Jonas Frey