Musicboard Berlin: Hans Unstern

November - December 2023

Hans Unstern worked on a new song cycle during the residency at HELLERAU. New texts are being written on topics such as the revaluation of care work, criticism of the belief in technology and progress and non-normative gender identities. This results in new songs that are arranged on the self-made harp and other instruments. Sound recordings are first made in the improvised recording studio.

Biography

Hans Unstern is a multitude who creates songs, texts, instruments, albums, radio plays and performances. The latest album “DIVEN” brings together contrasexual love songs, multispecies time meditations and poetry of unadapted bodies. The lyrics oscillate between modern fairy tales, criticism of the binary gender order and reflections on labor relations in capitalism. Since “The Great Hans Unstern Swindle”, Unstern has been building experimental harps, most recently the electro-acoustic “V-Harp” with eight modules, all of which produce concert sounds. Musically, the spectrum ranges from lyrical gentleness to punk moments and free improvisations.

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Mentoring

Katharina Warda is a sociologist and freelance author. In her work, which encompasses various artistic and journalistic text and sound genres as well as film, she deals with marginalized perspectives. She focuses on the topics of East Germany, racism, classism and punk. She is currently working on a novel and two documentary films that focus on her perspective as a Black East German woman.

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In co-operation with Musicboard Berlin.