was wahr bleibt, for singer, electronics and video
Everyone leaves behind traces. These traces need not be physical; they also reside in our memories, translating into our thoughts, behaviours, and future interactions with ourselves, others and the world around us. Does what remain, remain true? Memories are deceptive. They change, fade and are reshaped – by time, emotions and our own perception. What we believe to be true can be fragile, and what remains is often not what we expected.
was wahr bleibt explores the idea of Memory and fallibility of memories – traces that are left behind.
Photo credits: Christian Nielinger
This work is a close collaboration with composer Irene Tanuwidjaja and soprano Hannah Otto. The multimedia work consists of a version for live performance (shown above) and an interactive installation (shown below). First presented as part of the Sommerblut Kultur Festival, FINAL CELEBRATION on 7 May 2025 at the Ehemaliges Autohaus Dresen, Cologne, Germany. Currently being reworked at Kolleg der Künste Montepulciano, Italy and will be reperformed at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln on 4th July 2025.
was wahr bleibt, for interactive installation
was wahr bleibt explores the fragility of memory and the traces we leave behind. As visitors pass through the space, their silhouettes are captured and layered onto a looping video projection. With each repetition, residual images of previous viewers accumulate, merging with those of the present. Over time, this continuous layering distorts the visual memory, raising a central question: Can what remains still be considered true?
Photo credits: Christian Nielinger
Der Flügel träumt davon, ein Stern zu werden
for piano and electronics
Performed by Petek Atalay @petekatalay
The pianist, the piano, and the piano’s daydreams. The pianist performs on the piano, virtuosic, measured, controlled. The piano responds expectedly, in the manner and timbre that characterizes it as a piano. The piano sometimes wishes it could be free, and so it loses itself in a daydream of being something else, other than a piano. This is the story of a piano, who dreams of becoming a star.
One could imagine a physical reality, comprising of the pianist and the piano’s resonance, against the daydreams of the piano created through electronic tracks, bringing us into different sonic spaces. 2 chords from the piano abruptly initiates the piano’s first daydream: an active texture made up of layered materials, which suggest different acoustical spaces and are variations of the piano’s motivic pattern soon to come. These layers are “placed under a microscope”, magnifying and augmenting traits within to form the piano’s daydreams. The piece involves alternations between reality, daydreams, and spaces in-between.