© photo credit: Volker Metzler
ANNA TILL (Sense of touch)
(*1983, GER)
Anna Till lives and works as a freelance choreographer and dancer in Dresden. She studied "Dance, Context, Choreography" at the HZT - Inter-University Centre for Dance in Berlin and "Applied Cultural Studies" in Lüneburg. Under the label situation productions she develops stage plays with the cultural manager Bettina Lehmann in changing cooperations with artists of different genres. Supported and co-produced by partner institutions such as HELLERAU in Dresden or the tanzhaus NRW in Düsseldorf, she is active as a performer, realises mediation concepts for children and young people, teaches at several universities or coordinates exchange and discourse formats in the context of TanzNetzDresden.
HEIKO WOMMELSDORF (Sense of hearing)
(*1982, GER)
After studying fine arts at the Muthesius Art Academy in Kiel, Heiko Wommelsdorf studied sound sculpture and sound installation with Ulrich Eller at the HBK Braunschweig from 2009 to 2012. In addition to numerous scholarships as well as many exhibitions at home and abroad, Wommelsdorf had a teaching position in the field of sound art at the Muthesius Academy of Art in Kiel from 2014 to 2015.
http://www.heikowommelsdorf.de/
https://vimeo.com/heikowommelsdorf
‣NOBODY
WATCHING
ANNA TILL
A polygone object is moving through the city. Made from rubber foam, moved from the inside, watched from the outside, it is exploring the Sonnenberg district. Hidden inside: the dancer’s and coreographer’s body. No longer recognizable as a human being, the creature looks uncanny. It does not belong here. From wall to wall, from edge to lawn, to stairs, to waste garbage can, to park bench it moves. The material, the rubber foam, which surrounds her, functions as a second skin, which grants protection, but also impedes the contact to the outer world. Sense of touch is the sense, which roots us in this world. By collecting information by touch, Anna Till recognizes surface temperatures, feels whether objects are soft or hard and at which distance she is from them. By touching, she puts her body in context of its surroundings.
@KOMPLEX (Foyer), Zietenstraße 32
Photo by Stephan Loss
Photo by Johannes Richter
Photo by Stephan Loss
‣SOUND POWER
LEVEL
HEIKO WOMMELSDORF
Be it a cooling device, freezer, washing machine, dishwasher or heating system - all such machines receive a EU-energy label, on which, next to its energy efficiency class, its sound power level is noted (in db, decibel). By now, even in the public space, people value sound control so much that even car wheel suppliers advertise the soundlessness of their tires. Every machine on a construction site is painstakingly examined and labelled with the according sound power level. In Heiko Wommelsdorf’s work “SOUND POWER LEVEL Chemnitz-Sonnenberg”, even machines which are not mentioned in these regulations are being labelled. The ticking of traffic lights, the humming of ventilation systems, the buzz of power boxes and further sound-generators in the public space are being measured and labelled with stickers. To find the chosen spots, visitors receive a uniquely designed district map with markers and further information.
@Sonnenberg district
>> Preliminary study for the
foam work by and with Anna Till
>>Final design for the foam costume,
supported by Tobias Eisenkrämer
‣THREE QUESTIONS TO
ANNA TILL &
HEIKO WOMMELSDORF
You have been in Chemnitz (on the road) for a few weeks now:
What are your / your impressions of the city? Have you noticed anything in particular? Why? What differences do you see, for example, compared to your home cities of Dresden and Hamburg?
Anna: "For me, Chemnitz is above all: having a lot of space. Wide streets, big houses, few people. That leaves a lot of free space. I'm quite impressed by all the different cultural initiatives that use this space to shape the diverse subculture and always seek a strong connection to the urban society of Chemnitz. In contrast to Dresden, which has been almost renovated to death in recent years and mainly cultivates its baroque heritage, stylistic breaks are visible in Chemnitz. I am much more reminded of the GDR past by certain buildings or monuments from that time. I enjoy that in a strange way. There is not one image, one aesthetic of Chemnitz. Chemnitz is like a jigsaw puzzle in which individual pieces have been lost over time and replaced by new ones. A cluster without a centre."
Heiko: "For me, Chemnitz was a blank slate. I knew the label Raster-Noton or Raster-Media and beyond that nothing except for the events from 2018. Compared to Hamburg, the extreme vacancy here on Sonnenberg is an absolute extreme. There are no vacancies in Hamburg and whole houses are empty here. Nevertheless, I got to know Chemnitz enthusiastically. The "Gegenwarten/Presences" exhibition and the "Hang zur Kultur" coincided with my first week in Chemnitz. In addition, there was a wonderful bicycle tour through Chemnitz with the curbside lobby and a warm acquaintance with the Galerie Borssenanger and the Galerie OSCAR in the Weltecho."
Within the framework of the dialogue fields 2020 Von Sinnen (Of the Senses), you dedicate yourself to the sense of touch and the sense of hearing: Are there any impressions that you draw from the Sonnenberg in particular? What are they specifically? How are they reflected in your work?
Anna: "Touch is the sense that locates me in the world. By picking up information through touch, I recognise the temperature of a surface, feel whether it is soft or hard and at what distance I am from an object. For the time being, this is independent of the exact environment. With the help of touch, I relate my body to its environment. That is decisive for me. To move the body into the centre, so to speak, and to position it. In this case in the Sonnenberg. Where do I pass quickly? Where do I want to linger? Which surface structures have I perhaps never noticed before? Which corners and edges offer space for the body to adapt to, to crawl into? Which surfaces are wide and large so that they can be used as a stage?"
Heiko: "I have been working as a sound installation artist since 2007. My focus has long been on sounds of urban space, although I very rarely exhibit outside of a gallery/museum. I position ventilation/air conditioning systems, radiators, fluorescent tubes or water drops in downpipes in exhibitions. I am therefore very happy about the invitation to work directly in urban space. With a decibel meter in hand, I have taken many walks through the neighbourhood, and the results of my tours will be presented from 31.10."
Can you each give us a little preview of the work in progress? What can visitors look forward to during the presentation week from 31.10. to 06.11.?
Anna: "I would like to try something at DIALOGFELDERN that I have never done before. Normally, my work is characterised by minimalism, precision and artistic dialogue; moreover, I mainly produce pieces for the (theatre) stage. This time I'm going into the urban space and working intensively with a special material: foam. I have found an oversized costume as a performance partner, so to speak. The object consists of different polygon shapes (concept and construction: Tobias Eisenkrämer) and is a bit bigger than me. I am inside the object, so my body disappears almost completely, but moves the material from the inside. There are also several holes that I use to give the foam creature arms, legs and a head. In this way, I palpate the city, the sun mountain."
Heiko: "In my work "Sound Power Level Chemnitz-Sonnenberg", the ticking of traffic lights, the hum of ventilation systems, the whirring of electricity boxes and other noise generators in public space are measured. With a sticker, the passer-by is informed that there is something to hear here. To find the places where I measured and labelled the sound power level on Sonnenberg, you get a map of the neighbourhood with markings and further information."
>> Decibel meassurement
@ Sonnenberg,
by Heiko Wommelsdorf
‣DOCUMENTATION
JENS AUSDERWÄSCHE
>> "City map of noise"
with Heiko Wommelsdorf"