ORBIT — A War Series
Brigitta Muntendorf
In HELLERAU Brigitta Muntendorf presents “ORBIT – A War Series”, a work commissioned by the Venice Biennale 2023, as a German premiere.In a 3D audio space in the Great Hall of the Festspielhaus, she will be experienced as a solo performer-composer. In her immersive space oratorio, disembodied voices encircle the audience with haunting testimonies of the wars and power struggles waged against the female body for millennia. In the process, 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, whose “War Series” (1966-70) left a lasting artistic mark not only on the Venice Biennale 2007, but also on the walls of the Nancy Spero Hall in the Festspielhaus Hellerau.
Brigitta Muntendorf was a guest at HELLERAU for the first time in 2012 with the Ensemble Garage, which she founded. In recent years, in addition to immersive installation works, she has primarily developed larger stage and ensemble productions for the Ruhrtriennale, Kyoto Experiment or the Bregenz Festival, among others. Her trilogy for two pianos and live electronics (Klavierduo GrauSchumacher) was awarded the German Record Critics’ Prize in 2023.
Composition, artistic direction: Brigitta Muntendorf
Dramaturgy: Mehdi Moradpour
Programming: Lukas Nowok
Lighting design: Begoña Garcia Navas
Voice clone: Lisa Aithnard, Arjopa Limburg, Nike-Mae-Lopez
War Correspondent (Prologue): Christina Lamb Voice Cloning
Program: Respeecher Field
Recordings: Alfred Wegener Institute / NOAA/PMEL (Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory)
d&b audiotechnik: Ralf Zuleeg
With the support of: Kunststiftung NRW and Goethe-Institut Commissioned by: La Biennale di Venezia with the support of Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung
Production: La Biennale di Venezia
