Opposite Editorial: Kamila Metwaly and Berno Odo Polzer

Dear readers of field notes,

We’re only approaching the density of relationality that used to be called normality, sensing the necessity to relate in different and diverse ways. Hosting or attending public spaces has itself become a question of experimentation and reconfiguration. Where does the experience of the pandemic lead us when it comes to transforming our practices and behaviors? We are grateful for coming back together into physical public spaces dedicated to sound and music with changed sensibilities, looking forward to March and April’s offerings.

A Kontraklang evening at Villa Elisabeth presenting works by Nguyễn + Transitory and The Liz on the 2nd of April navigates relations between body, movement, and sound. Nguyễn + Transitory – also featured at MaerzMusik – create music with their bodies through touch and modular synthesizers, traversing proximity and distance, intimacy, and vulnerabilities. They dissolve the individual in the process of making sound. On the 25th of March, Ready Making #5 at Errand Sound invites Cathy van Eck, Daniela Fromberg and loana Vreme Moser for a listening exchange.

An exhibition and performance programme at SAVVY Contemporary between the 19th of March and 27th of April inquires the legacy of Fluxus pioneer Benjamin Patterson and his rich and playfully political work of over fifty years. Egyptian sound artist Yara Mekawei in the meanwhile is featured in her first solo exhibition in Germany at daadgalerie. Between the 20th of March and the 15th of May, she will take you on a journey through musicology, philosophy, and coding in Sufism.

BAM!, the festival of Berlin’s independent music theatre scene, opens with a dense programme featuring more than 40 performances in five days between the 6th and the 10th of April. Highlights include the Ensemble KNM Berlin, Ensemble Trisolde, Opera Lab Berlin, The Paranormal φeer Group and many others.

And finally, MaerzMusik hosts Éliane Radigue’s complete electronic œuvre between the 21st and the 27th of March at the Zeiss-Großplanetarium and the Kammermusiksaal der Philharmonie. The composer continues to inspire with her unique way of being in the world through sound and listening.

Kamila Metwaly and Berno Odo Polzer