Treehumana installation opens the space for individual and collective listening. How is our auditory perception affected by our surroundings? Treehumana is inspiried by forest singing in Kurpie. Kurpie is a remnant enclave of primal forest in Poland that exists since the last ice age 10.000 years ago. People in Kurpie were communing with the forest through singing using the reverb and its soundeffects in order to create songs. Due to man made destruction, war and industrialization today the primal forest in Kurpie is endangered and shrunken to small protected areas. Also the unique (acoustic) ecosphere and the acoustic relation of humans with the forest including the forest singing are vanishing.
Bringing field recordings from the actual Kurpie, to a former coal-powerplant in Berlin, Treehumana asks how an understanding of the human as an acoustic being shapes our relationship within environments? Based on deep listening exercises three Paetzold Recorder players and four singers use the practice of acoustically communing with the forest in the post industrial space.
The visitors are invited to explore their own sonic vulnerabity, different listening perspectives, and connect to the rich soundscape.
Paetzold Recorder and Flutes Susanne Fröhlich (direction), Carolin Daub, Marita Gehrer // Singers from Otucha-Collective Agnieszka Bułacik, Ewa Brokos, Paulina Miu Kühling, Ola Zielińska // Welcoming Words and Listening Exercise Agnieszka Bułacik // „Dolina, Dolina“ Performed by Antonina Deptuła
Artistic Direction, Concept, Fieldrecordings Composition, Spatial Design Matthias Schönijahn // Composition, Concept Wojtek Blecharz // Vocal Composition, Vocal Direction Paulina Miu Kühling and Otucha Collective // Dramaturgy Jan-Tage Kühling // Costumes Nicolas Navarro Rueda // Technical Direction, Sound and Light-Design Constantin von Thun // Production Management Péter Sanyo // Public Relations Mina Dordjevic // Musicethnological consultance Olga Stopińska // Translation Ewa Brokos
Funded by Musikfonds e.V. (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media), Initiative neue Musik e.V., Bezirksamt Treptow-Köpenick Fachbereich Kultur und Museen
Photos by Peter Runkewitz
