COMMUNITY OF GRIEVING

2021-2022 by Zosia Hołubowska and Julia Giertz

audio ritual and live performance with light sculptures scenography

record

video teaser

interview with the artist

The “Community of Grieving” is an intimate ritual that creates space for mourning over what we as a collective have lost during the pandemic. It searches for new forms of being together. The ritual engages music, choreography, and a new media installation.  In terms of music, the project refers to the Eastern European tradition of lamentation and evening liturgy, i.e. vespers present in many Christian rites. The movement of the performers is oriented towards holding the space for the audience to go through a landscape of emotions. The new media installation is a series of holograms created by flat screens, positioned on tall stage tables, forming sort of fire pillars in a temple.

Originally, the work consisted of an electronic music concert employing singing, synthesizers, and advanced digital audio transformations, a choreographic score for the audience to do at home, and an online chat after the concert presentation. The work was commissioned and premiered in this form at the Unsound Intermission (internet edition) in October 2020 and financed by the Austrian Cultural Forum in Warsaw. It was presented via Radio Kapitał and at the Discord Channel of the Unsound Festival. 

credits:

Composers: Zosia Hołubowska & Julia Giertz, Performers/Voices: Zosia Hołubowska; Edka Jarząb, Veza Maria Fernandez Wenger; Live musician: Isabella Forciniti; Choreographic support: Claire Lefevre; Visuals / Hologram: Joanna Nordahl; 3D: Hamed Hajmolaali; Costumes: Polka; Vocal support: Emma Bonnici

supported by:

Unsound, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Elevate Festival, WeAre Europe, Austria Culture Forum Warsaw, Austrian Ministry of Culture, and Nada Lokal in Vienna