MAY YOU EMBRACE ME, ZORKA WOLLNY
Friday 22 November 2024
5:00 pm - 8:20 pm
(there will be four 20-minute performances at the start of each hour)
Palazzo Contarini Polignac
Dorsoduro 874, 30123 Venice
A performance featuring ancient texts from papyri discovered on Elephantine Island, Egypt
In May You Embrace Me, Zorka Wollny presents five songs based on ancient texts from papyri found on Elephantine Island, Egypt. These texts, recently translated by scholars from the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection from Neues Museum in Berlin, date back 4000 years, reawakening voices from an era long past.
Zorka's compositions give new life to these ancient writings, weaving them into a contemporary musical framework. Grounded in history, they engage deeply with the emotions that remain timeless. The performance features five vocalists, delivering a profound and singular experience that channels the echoes of daily life from millennia ago. The songs delve into universal themes through collective stories of longing, struggle, belief, and connection, crafting a space where the voices of the past resonate powerfully in the present.
Zorka's minimalist yet monumental acoustic approach amplifies the power of the translated words, letting the previously unheard texts and experimental operatic vocals drive the emotional depth of the performance.
May You Embrace Me creates a unique intersection of history, music, and personal reflection, inviting audiences to connect with the voices of ordinary individuals from ancient Egypt and to consider their own experiences of belonging, vulnerability, and acceptance.
Written by: Kasia Sobucka
Artist's Bio
Zorka Wollny is an interdisciplinary artist who directs and choreographs performative works in collaboration with musicians, actors, dancers, and community members. Operating at the intersection of visual art, theater, activism, and contemporary music, her projects often explore the voice and body as tools of expression and public debate and respond directly to the histories and functions of specific architectural sites. She has staged performances in museums, factories, and empty buildings.
Her works have been presented worldwide, including at Chicago Architecture Biennial Biennale in Porto Allegre (2020) Steirischer Herbst Festival (2019), Hebbel am Ufer Theatre in Berlin (2018), CTM Festival in Berlin (2020, 2018, 2015), Savvy Contemporary in Berlin (2017, 2016), De Appel in Amsterdam (2017), Heroines of Sound Festival in Berlin (2017), International Studio&Curatorial Program in New York (2017), Tartu Museum of Art (2017), Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst in Oldenburg (2016), Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London (2014), Jazz and Experimental Music Festival in Istanbul (2014), Akademie der Künste in Berlin (2013), Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst in Leipzig (2012), Abteiberg Museum in Muenchengladbach (2012), Turner Contemporary in Margate (2011), Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade (2011), Carrara International Sculpture Biennale (2010), Z33 in Hasselt (2010), Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich (2009), Royal College of Art in London (2009), and The Fourth World Social Forum in Mumbai (2004)
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Zorka Wollny was born and studied in Kraków, and quickly made an artistic career in Poland (she composed for the Warsaw Autumn Festival, the Zachęta National Art Gallery, National Museums in Kraków and Gdańsk, Łódź Art Museum). Over the past few years, her musical performances have opened theatre and music festivals of such stature as Steirischer Herbst in Austria or CTM Transmediale in Berlin and Rio de Janeiro. The most recent sound installation can be seen for the next four years at the Museum of Industry Zeche Hannover.
In 2022, the Foundation for Music and the Arts in Dresden decided to honor Zorka Wollny for her achievement as an artist connecting music and visual arts with a special award on the occasion of the foundation’s tenth anniversary. That was followed by the artist’s retrospective exhibition organised by Kunsthale Dresden (2023).