SPACE=WOW (BUT I STILL MISS YOU, EARTH)
A Surrealesque of Being and Time by Belma Bešlić-Gál
SPACE=WOW (but I still miss you, Earth) is a commissioned work that was given last year to the lyricist Christoph Szalay and the composer Belma Bešlić-Gál. The project is implemented by the ensemble szene instrumental under the direction of Wolfgang Hattinger.
In 1830 Wilhelm Beer and Johann Heinrich Mädler produced the first map of Mars, which was preceded by observations of the Martian surface. Since 2010, NASA’s Authorization Act has provided the framework for a crewed mission to Mars by 2035. At the same time, the Mars mission addresses socio-political and existential questions and touches on the human imagination: How do we want to live and where?
Christoph Szalay shrewdly moves away from planet Earth to return the focus precisely there: His (as any) engagement with space is also an engagement with Earth: the journey to Mars sheds light on concepts that need to be constantly renegotiated – what does nation mean, what does territory mean, what does migration mean, what are economic resources, who has them? It is precisely this shift in perception triggered by the expedition into deep space, which is aimed not only at economic and political systems, but also at a new view of the world: a new understanding of the world, that is the scandalon that Christoph Szalay allowed himself to be aesthetically challenged by.
The lyrically structured text is almost continuously accompanied by quotations (literally), which define the frame of reference, open up arcs of tension, expose ideologies of domination played out directly or through the margins, and have loose ends that are hammered into the textual fabric. Tuzla-born composer Belma Bešlić-Gál, whose compositional work obsessively explores the effects of space exploration on our perception and self-understanding, has crafted a composition guided by a fascination with the vast, the unreachable and the spherical.
The performance space becomes a surreal place where the ensemble hierarchy is dissolved and instrumentalists, conductor and singer act as equal actors, travelers through space-time. The journey of several months through darkness to Mars, this celestial neighbor without life, is – composer and author agree – a surreal journey to oneself.
Birgit Pölzl, 2017
Flute/Bass Flute, Trombone, Percussion (Woodblock, Claves, Guiro, Castanets, Bass Slit Drum, Vibraslap, Vibraphone, Bass Drum, Tam-Tam), Accordion, Violin, Viola, Violoncello; Actors; Singer (4 persons, 2 male, 2 female); AI computer voice; 10-channel Electronics; Lighting, Video, Stage design, Costume design
Musiktheatertage Wien 2017 | Ensemble szene instrumental | Conductor: Wolfgang Hattinger | Werk-X | Vienna [29/06/2017]
Audio Recording: Belma Bešlić-Gál | Camera: starsky | Video-Editing: Belma Bešlić-Gál
- 16.05.2017Premiere — szene instrumental, Kulturzentrum bei den Minoriten, Graz
- 29.06.2017Musiktheatertage Wien, Werk-X, Wien
Text: Christoph Szalay
Composition: Belma Bešlić-Gál
Ensemble: szene instrumental
Stage design: Sophia PROFANTER
Musical direction: Wolfgang HATTINGER
Elisa Azzará [Flute]
Jevgenijs Cepoveckis [Violin]
Anna Sabelfeld [Viola]
Esteban Belinchón [Violoncello]
Kevin Fairbairn [Trombone]
Grilli Pollheimer [Percussion]
Ivan Trenev [Accordion]
Ninja Reichert [Actress/Singer]
Alice Peterhans, Wolfgang Hattinger, Christoph Szalay [Actors/Performers]
Audio Recording: Belma Bešlić-Gál | Camera: starsky | Video-Editing: Belma Bešlić-Gál
A production of scene instrumental in co-production with Kulturzentrum bei den Minoriten, Graz; with the kind support of Bundeskanzleramt Kunst und Kultur, Steiermark Kultur and Graz Culture