Listening to the Planets

In the organizer's words:

Ari Teperberg [ISR/NL]

In English, suitable for international guests

A satellite solo. A struggle to locate oneself.

"...And man to man down upon earth
As planet to planet above."

(Rachel Blowstein, 1928)

I'm listening to "The Planets" (1917), a monumental orchestral piece by the British composer Gustav Holst. Can you hear it through me? It transforms into words, images, movement. I try to listen even deeper and hear the artist who composed it while living through a brutal war in which he was not involved. His music transforms into matter in motion on stage - it circles, distorts, disappears and reappears. I listen again and hear his attempt to grapple with a system so much more powerful than himself, and to wish for perspective and distance from the violence and despair of his own kind. His music becomes a vehicle with which I can travel far into the far reaches of the universe, where it fades beyond the threshold of perception.

Listening to the Planets interweaves a personal diary of the performer with historical research about a composer and abstract images derived from the exploration of satellites, constellations, interstellar communication and delay.

• Idea and performance: Ari Teperberg
• Sound dramaturgy and design: Nathan Marcus
• Lighting design: Paulina Prokop
• Costume: Caz Egelie
• Dramaturgy: Ricarda Franzen
• Outside eye: Isadora Tomasi
• Advice on object animation: Thommy Kraft
• Artistic advice: Sister Sylvester