THE RHYTHMS OF LAMENT
Thursday 21 November 2024
5.00 pm - 8.00 pm
Palazzo Contarini Polignac
Dorsoduro 874, 30123 Venice
“The Rhythms of Lament” invites the audience into a shared sonic space for contemplation and reflection. It is a continuous auditory experience shaped by wireless speakers, vibrating transducers, a live performance by Nathan Julius (countertenor), and a neon light installation by Ewa Maria Śmigielska. The first chapter of the performance features a recording of the sound of an artillery shell, a relic from the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, now transformed into a sound installation composed for 18 wireless speakers. Played with mallets by American percussionist Ryan Nestor, the shell emits a gong-like resonance — a reflection on its violent past, recast into a meditative hum. This gesture of “diffusing” the bomb by turning it into an instrument opens space for the collective release of sorrow and places a question about the nature of the sound: am I experiencing a sound bath, or am I bathing in the sound of destruction?
In the second chapter of “The Rhythms of Lament” audiences are invited into a participatory experience featuring transducer speakers sending rhythmical vibrations rippling through the bodies of the listeners — this visceral gesture blends care and healing with deep sonic immersion. The closing part of the performance is a cycle of 3 songs “Berlin Prysm” for voice, piano, and 5 wireless speakers — an intimate lamento for the queer spirits and of those who have passed away, performed by Nathan Julius (countertenor).
The 3 chapters will be repeated 3 times during a 3-hour music installation. In this journey, the forces of destruction and healing converge, providing a moment to pause, reflect, and be enveloped by a collective meditation on sound's transformative power. "The Rhythms of Lament" emerges from the deep need for shared expressions of melancholia, offering a space where grief and sadness can be felt and released. The soundscape merged with lights becomes an alchemic ritual of transformation, where destruction is reconfigured as a sonic meditation, — a collective act of mourning and solidarity.
Wojtek Blecharz and Kasia Sobucka
One of the neon lights by Ewa Maria Śmigielska comes from her “Phoenix Mantra” installation, (exhibited in March 2023 — at Other Society in Warsaw) which is a continuation of the “Follow the Dragon” (2021) project — a monumental performative sculpture presented at the Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko. Voytek & Eva have been working as an artistic duet since 2012 creating complex site-specific installations, in which the combination of sound and objects is crucial. They created 2 opera installations: “Transcryptum” (2013) and “Body-Opera” and 3 performative sculptures: “Wobec” (2018) previously mentioned as “Follow the Dragon” (2021) and “Phoenix Mantra” (2023/24).
Artists Bios
Wojtek Blecharz (Voytek Blehash) From Gdynia (Poland), living in Berlin. His music often redefines the traditional concert format and proposes different relations between the listener/viewer and the sound. His music involves site-specific projects, participatory audience, elements of music, and instrumental theater as well as immersion and embodiment of sound. He directed three of his opera-installations.
Ewa-Maria Śmigielska (Eva-Maria Shmeegielska) From Warsaw, living in Chongqing. Performative sculpture with sound and cultural and formal syncretism is a hallmark of her artistic practice. Her inter-area explorations always have a specific framework, which is determined by a specific space and its contexts. She took part in numerous individual and collective exhibitions in Poland and abroad, also as a curator of exhibitions.
Nathan Julius — a South African countertenor originally from Cape Town, honed his craft at the prestigious Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland. Known for his dynamic range and expressive voice, Nathan has performed in a wide array of projects, from professional choir engagements and solo performances as a soprano and alto, to diverse operatic roles.
Ryan Nestor — is a percussionist specializing in contemporary music, he has commissioned and premiered numerous works and has performed with groups such as Red Fish Blue Fish, International Contemporary Ensemble, and The Bang on a Can All-Stars. His research focuses on instruments and sounds used in the time of war.
“The Rhythms of Lament”:
Wojtek Blecharz — music, concept
Nathan Julius — countertenor, piano
Ewa-Maria Śmigielska — neon installation
Kasia Sobucka — curator
Ryan Nestor — percussionist, recordings of artillery shell
Nicolas Navarro Rueda — costumes
Special thanks to Maja Śmigielska, Iga Chmielecka, Magda Małczyńska-Umeda and neon manufacturers: Hanak Neony and Neony Styl from Warsaw