theatercombinat | 21 june 2011 the tears of stalin - a three-part urban intervention by claudia bosse for the intersection project of the prague quadriennal

sprache/language: english


blog explosion of silence

 

"silence. silence always talks of something else. silence is tension, expectation, charging. silence makes everything else talk - bodies, attitudes, expectations. the silence is never silent. the silence is a revocation, an act of refusal within public space, which usually cries for attention by images, labels, values." claudia bosse

the tears of stalin - a visual intervention the letters THE TEARS OF STALIN are installed on the pedestal of the former monument on letná hill. a sign, a poetic-political irritation during the whole time of the festival, as a link to the history of the hill, the history of the world's largest stalin monument and its detonation and demolition six and half years after its erection and domination of the city's skyline, also remembering prague's post 1989 revolutionary situation and its promises and expectations.

the explosion of silence I - a performative intervention hundreds of people from the letná hill steps all the way to the old town square, squatting the public space, the street, the sidewalk, the bridge, stopping the traffic. a silent chorus interrupts the dynamic of public space, concentrates it, claims it. after 50 minutes of silence the participants begin with whispered multi-narrations about biography, identity and politics.

the explosion of silence II - an acoustic intervention a choreographic composition of siren-like sounds moving through urban space. the sounds are distributed by 18 speakers, mounted on top of 9 moving cars. claudia bosse created a score of moving sounds generated by milan guštar, composed of the interrelations of their tuning, rhythm and pauses. the urban composition will emerge from the intermingling of those tones, the sounds of the city and the movements of the mobile sound-carriers. they can be heard differently at different spots all over the city centre.



quadriennale prague 2011

 

concept, installation, interventions, choreography:
claudia bosse
explosion of silence I/ coordination/ assistant director:
lucie spackova

explosion of silence II/ choreographic composition with 9 cars: claudia bosse, sound processing: milan guštar, composition consultant: guenther auer, sound system: miroslav pich

intersection manager: klára mišunová 
head of production – intersection: jakub matejka 
translation consultant: christine standfest

thanks for help or inspiration to josef klimis, monika pajerová, michail rataj, petr sourek, etc.
a production by prague quadrennial, intersection.


openings

the tears of stalin
installation 16.06. - 26.06.2011, letna hill

explosion of silence I
urban intervention, from letna hill to the old town square, 21.06.2011, 5.00 pm to 6.00 pm
canceled the 17th of june

explosion of silence II
all over the old town of prague between 4:30 to 6:30pm, 21.06.2011

photogallery tears of stalin / prague quadrennial

 


 

click to view the photo series


photo: josef klimeš, explosion of silence

 

explosion of silence

BIG, big challenge, WHISPER!
a big challenge to stop yourself with others in the middle of the city for a demonstration of silence and the multitude of our society. PARTICIPATE! EVERYONE CAN PARTICIPATE!

script for the whispered multinarrative:
I will be born…
I will be called...
I will love...
I will learn to...
I will want to...
I will believe...

what is your definition of democracy?
what is your vision of a ideal live?
how would you use the word political?


explosion of silence

take part in a silent chorus
in the middle of the city of prague
take part in a living social sculpture
take part in a silent choreography
take part in an oral history creation
take part in an intimate monumental city intervention
give your voice to a multi-narration of prague's society today

 

explosion of silence I: hundreds of people - in silence for 50 minutes. dissemination of the silence. a collective virus in the city space. spatial and acoustical immobilization of parts of the city of prague. silence. freedom of speach as the characteristic of democracy, but nobody listens anymore. the capitalist censorship is the procurement and distribution of attention. silence as concentration and as a possibility. as a productive "nothingness", that creates something: that talks with the body, the presence, the surrounding space, the movement of the city that becomes visible only because of this immobilization. a living archive. humans. their life. their bodies, a promise. then: the intimacy of the biography, the beliefs. whispered simultaneously, a contemporary multinarrative. an intimate solitude in the democratic community. a (non) traceable whole. a multi-perspective (acoustic) sculpture. explosion of silence. after 50 minutes they will start to whisper, simultaneously, individually. their biografies and their memories, their opinions to identity and politics - positions of the history of prague from the 2. republic until today.

explosion of silence II: the acoustic intervention orientates itself on the ideas of the russian avantgarde to make the city sound, especially on arseni awraamow with his "symphony of sirens". 9 cars, arranged with sound systems on the roof, participate in the acoustic intervention. the sounds, similar to sirens, that come from the speakers on the roof are tuned and rhythmised to each other and composed with pauses. the sounds, the city noise and the movement of the mobile sound carriers, produce the composition in the city space, audible differently in different spaces in the city. each car has an exact timescore, that coordinates the movement of the cars and so the composition of the mobile sound carriers. they are choreographed with motives like, for example, a withdrawal of the sound, a gathering, a splitting, the on/off of the sound, everything allocated over the city. the street form the letna hill to the oldtownsquare is an axis of action, the space of explosion of silence I, another one the wenzelsplatz, etc. the space of sound and movement of this choreographic composition is throughout the whole area of the old town. the length is about 2 hours. the composition arises in co-operation with milan gustar.

silence

BIG, big challenge, WHISPER!

a big challange to stop yourself with others in the middle of the city for a demonstration of silence and the multitude of our society. PARTICIPATE! EVERYONE CAN PARTICIPATE!

script for the whispered multinarrative:

I will be born…
I will be called...
I will love...
I will learn to...
I will want to...
I will believe...

what is your definition of democracy?
what is your vision of an ideal live?
how would you use the word political?


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