Ten years after their last performance, the megaphone choir is returning to Spielbudenplatz on Hamburg’s Reeperbahn. This was supposed to be the location of a planned building district, designed by local residents. Instead, there is now a gaping hole surrounded by a fence. Time for a sonic exploration: What does the acoustic architecture of a suspended plan sound like? What future will never be realised here?
Eleven performer with megaphones became mobile samplers, recording and reproducing the sounds of the environment: between spoken word, sound experiments and political speeches, statements from interviews with neighbours and former residents are set to music. These were part of a ‘wish production’ by PlanBude – an internationally acclaimed form of urban planning based on collective knowledge.
The songs are reminiscent of the underground hits of the black New York disco punk band ESG. On top of the rhythmic skeleton, there are sparse layers of electronic and locally produced mechanical patterns […].
Christoph Schäfer, DÉRIVE /ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR STADTFORSCHUNG
Credits
Concept, Direction, Composition: Sylvi Kretzschmar
Composition, Development, Graphic Design: Rahel Kraft
Performance, Development: Andrea Hantscher, Heike Nöth, Sibylle Peters, Liz Rech, Annika Scharm, Frida Stein, Rahel Kraft, Sylvi Kretzschmar, Ann-Kathrin Quednau, Alyssa Marie Warncke, Anne Brüchert
Costumes: Amo Jermies
Artistic assistance, production: Kerstin Oppermann
Dramaturgical consultation: Sibylle Peters
Sound Technician: Peta Devlin
Lighting: Lars Rubarth
Funded by: Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media: Programme Art in Public Space
Thanks to: Paulina Gilsbach and Jan Wagner from the project ‘Essos Echos - Returning Fragmentary Memories to a Seemingly Empty Space’ at the Institute for Urban Design/Hafen City University Hamburg.
Photos: Heike Schluckebier, rasande tyskar, Hinrich Schulz
Video: Margit Czenki
