As part of the group exhibition at dawn, the JULIA STOSCHEK FOUNDATION and REIF present a new site-specific collaboration between multidisciplinary artist Fa’ Pawaka and sound duo LABOUR, combining Pawaka’s practice of “sacred tunings” with LABOUR’s “sonic activations”. The evening, entitled Eventide, consists of a sound parcours led by the artists and culminates in a sound bath in the upstairs cinema.
Image above: LABOUR live at Metabolic Rift. Photo: Pedro Kuster
Put together by Berlin-based collective REIF, the programme explores notions of recalibration and expansion, proposing to intentionally transcend preconceived ideas and limitations within and around us. It focuses on the audience experience and is a continuation of REIF’s previous explorations, which have often manifested as gatherings, LPs and videos developed through the record label and events. REIF was founded on ideas of collective, community-based engagement through which they seek to facilitate various forms of togetherness and liberation.
The exhibition at dawn takes a similar approach, presenting works that create spiritual, psychological and physical spaces that point to more expansive possibilities of being, bringing about new forms of social kinship, collectivity and understanding.
Both REIF and at dawn look towards a utopian horizon, bringing together artworks and people in the present who seek to build supportive communities.
According to a quote by Alice Coltrane, from which the title of the exhibition is borrowed, we should “sit down at the feet of action” every morning at dawn. This proverb encourages us to recalibrate and set an intention, and further suggests that in the evening we should grow so tall that “the sky learns the sky”. Evening time can refer to a day, but also to a lifetime, and evokes a state in which we are open to the universe and become passages for what the cosmos has to offer. In their activation, Fa’ Pawaka and LABOUR work towards this recalibration and sonic catharsis, inviting us to hear and feel our bodies in relation to each other and to everything around us.
Fa’ Pawaka, aka Fahrani Empel, aka favelamunk, is a multidisciplinary Indonesian artist living in Berlin. For the last four years she has been working with alchemy crystal bowls. She is fascinated by their healing qualities and the immediate calming of the body in response. Sacred Tuning is an immersive experience that releases psychological blocks, lowers emotions and activates our pineal gland. It was developed together with Olle Holmberg and Elisa Lindenberg. “Our cells are made of crystalline structures, so the frequencies of the crystal bowl are received by the person directly at the cellular level,” says Fa’. “This is a powerful activation.
LABOUR is the joint project of Farahnaz Hatam and Colin Hacklander, whose compositions and performances revolve around the transformative potential of sound. Hatam, trained in molecular biology, works mainly with SuperCollider, a complex platform for audio synthesis and algorithmic composition that is a language in itself. Hacklander is a percussionist, drummer and composer with a background in post-tonal theory and electronic music. As LABOUR they compose ambitious and reverently experimental audio works. Their practice encourages active listening and heightened sensory awareness, which forms the core of their “sonic activations” series, which continues their exploration of acoustic space as a potentially radical gesture. The name LABOUR is partly inspired by an early definition by Marx, which gives an ontological meaning to the realm of labour asDer Philosoph Christopher J. Arthurs definiert Arbeit als “die ontologisch grundlegende produktive Tätigkeit, in und durch die man zu dem wird, was man ist”.
REIF is a multifaceted cultural movement and a loose association of international artists that presents itself in the form of records and community activities. The collective’s main interest is to curate events and programmes that encompass different expressions of thought, identity, play, experience and togetherness. In parallel with their first label release, Compilation 01 (December 2021), which featured artists such as Wolfgang Tillmans, Cali Rose, Karl Holmqvist, Amsara, rRoxymore and Jeff Mills, REIF curated a four-part programme called Sonic Catharsis for the Centre D’Art Contemporain Genève. The follow-up compilation 02 (June 2022) presented 26 new tracks by Crystallmess, CEM, Ron Trent, Carminho, Richie Culver, Emma DJ, BABYNYMPH and No Bra, to name a few. REIF is currently a resident at Berghain/Panorama Bar in Berlin.
ABOUT JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION & FOUNDATION
Founded in 2002, the JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION is one of the world’s most extensive private collections of time-based art. With over 870 artworks by 290 artists from around the world, the collection focuses on moving image experiments of the 1960s and 70s. Works in the collection include video, film, single and multi-channel moving image installations, multimedia environments, performance, sound and virtual reality. Photography, sculpture and painting complement the time-based focus.
Public access to the collection is made possible through the support of the JULIA STOSCHEK FOUNDATION. Founded in 2017 by Julia Stoschek, the foundation is dedicated to the public presentation, mediation, promotion, preservation and scholarship of media and performance practices. It is a non-profit organisation that enables institutions, researchers and artists around the world to realise ambitious programmes and groundbreaking projects in the field of time-based art. The foundation also guarantees the long-term preservation of the collection.
WHEN?
15 and 16 September 2022, 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. (doors open at 7:30 p.m.)
RSVP https://www.jsc.art/calendar/
WHERE?
Leipziger Straße 60
10117 Berlin-Mitte
COST?
Free admission