ORBIT — A War Series

HELLERAU presents “ORBIT – A War Series” by Brigitta Muntendorf, a work commissioned by La Biennale di Venezia 2023 and developed as a 3D audio project in cooperation with d&b audio and the Ukrainian start-up Respeecher.

In Muntendorf’s immersive space oratorio, disembodied voices encircle the audience with haunting testimonies of the wars and power struggles that have been waged against the female body for millennia. The use of sound synthesis, AI and deep-learning technologies for digital voice generation gives rise to immortal female warriors who simultaneously become posthuman ambassadors. The title “ORBIT – A War Series” is a reference to the New York artist Nancy Spero, who left a lasting artistic mark with her “War Series” (1966-70) not only at the Venice Biennale 2007, but also on the walls of the Nancy Spero Hall in the Festspielhaus Hellerau.

RollingStone magazine writes about the premiere in Venice: “Another highlight, again in the unusual clubbing-non-clubbing trend of this Biennale Musica: Brigitta Muntendorf’s work ORBIT – A War Series. A powerful textual exploration of the dramas of war, sadly more relevant today than ever before, and electronic music that is sometimes dancefloor-esque, sometimes floating, that you listen to sitting down, immersed in an alienating curtain of fog and with the sound diffusing circularly, not just frontally.”

Duration: ca. 1 h without a break

Download programme information and libretto here: PDF