2020 has an array of new musical experiences in store and as of January, SCENATET is once again going on a performance tour outside Denmark. This time, we are going to Berlin to perform the world premiere of ‘Also Sprach Golem’ by Kaj Duncan David and Kommando Himmelfahrt. The piece is SCENATET’s contribution to Ultraschall Berlin – Festival für Neue Musik, and it will be performed on both January 18 and 19. The Danish premiere is set to June 2020 at Klang Festival in Copenhagen.

EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMANKIND AND TECHNOLOGY
SCENATET is looking forward to performing the evocative music drama piece ‘Also Sprach Golem’. Based on themes of the futurological novel ‘GOLEM XIV’ by Polish sci-fi author Stanislaw Lem, this collaboration between Danish/British composer Kaj Duncan David and Berlin-based director Thomas Fiedler explores the relationship between humankind and increasingly dominant technology, including artificial intelligence. 

Revolving around Stanislaw Lem’s superintelligent computer GOLEM XIV, represented in the form of an intricate sound-light-machine, ‘Also Sprach Golem’ lies somewhere between audiovisual installation and electroacoustic music theatre. The performance offers a truly mesmerizing interplay between musicians, performers, and technological apparatus, demonstrating different possibilities inherent in the synchronicity between sound, light, video, and action, all in the continuum between human agency and computerized automation.

Find more info about the two concerts via the Facebook event.

A CONTINUING COLLABORATION
SCENATET has previously performed works by Kaj Duncan David: The powerfully choreographed ‘No News Good News’ for four blindfolded performers turning newspaper pages, and the sparkling, synthetic ‘Computer Music’ for seven performers with laptops serving as both score, instrument, and colourful lighting. Both pieces were premiered by SCENATET in 2014 and as recently as last month, the first-mentioned piece was brought on tour and restaged as part of this year’s Festival Música Estranha in Brazil. 

The project is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation and KODA Culture.

Visual content credit: Carl John Hoffmann

‘ALSO SPRACH GOLEM’
At Ultraschall Berlin – Festival für Neue Musik 2020
Date: January 18 & 19, 2020
Time: TBA
Place: Radialsystem, Berlin
Tickets: Find more info at Ultraschall Berlin