Fourth Movement (Performance for a Single Person), 2016 Performance
Performances- Curator / Team
- with Ralitsa Miteva, Radostin Zlatinov, Ivaylo Angelov, and Simona Velkova / Curator: Boryana Petkova
- Award
- Special jury award
Borders have become a topic of daily discussion, debated in the parliaments of the world as well as in neighborhood bars. What may appear paradoxical is, at its core, perhaps nothing more than a widespread sense of unpreparedness for something not yet fully understood—namely, how small the world has become due to our own electronic, mechanical discoveries and the new foundations of society. The so-called “invasion” of migrants has primarily forced Europe to confront the very principles it proclaims as essential to its existence as a supranational entity. The reactions of different member states to the arrival of these people are, of course, also tied to political agendas: the chance to overturn governments and seize power through misinformation and populist rhetoric. My work begins precisely from this point, using one of the symbols of belonging par excellence, the national anthem, in this case that of the European Union, the fourth movement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. I use it as a means to invite reflection on themes of absence, fragmentation, loss, and the urgent need to rethink the community of people we live within. The audience is guided one by one into a space where they are faced with a single musician, who plays for them the sheet music corresponding to their instrument’s part of the European Anthem. At the end of the performance the person leaves, making room for the next visitor, who will in turn find a different musician with a different instrument, performing for them their own part of the anthem. Each visitor therefore hears only one instrument at a time. The idea is to deconstruct the anthem, creating a sensation of solitude and absence.