Silmandé

Humans have made an indelible mark on nature and thus become a “force of nature” themselves. As natural resources grow scarcer and climate change and environmental problems intensify, the global disparity between winners and losers continually increases with millions of refugees displaced or fleeing. The project “Silmandé” addressed the common relationship that we all share on this planet at several levels, investigated the connections between climate change and migration, and invoked the visionary ability of humans. Over the course of nine months, the transnational ensemble Hajusom, the Ensemble Resonanz, the Burkinese Éco-Art project “The Garden of Silmandé” and other international artists and researchers have presented their positions for a sustainable lifestyle in the future and a new world community. These have been combined and intertwined to form a musical performance at Kampnagel. The soundtrack included electronic sounds, flexible micro-music, fragments of New and Classical Music as well as improvisation and rap.

The goal of “Silmandé” was to allow visitors to feel and experience visions of a different kind of world. To achieve this, the organisers converted the Medienbunker Hamburg into a research lab, in which the participants have developed music, text, choreography and props, and conducted theme-based research. The interim results had been presented to and discussed with the public. A second laboratory had opened in the “Garden of Silmandé” in Ouagadougou; starting in September 2016, children had started planting and cultivating trees together with the participating artists. The video artist Josep Tapsoba accompanied them during the process and integrated the video footage into the stage design of the concluding musical performance.

A co-production with the Kampnagel Hamburg, Gorki Theater Berlin, Theater im Pumpenhaus/Münster and C.I.T.O. Ouagadougou

Artistic directors: Dorothea Reinicke, Ella Huck
Musical directors: Juditha Haeberlin, Viktor Marek, Wolfgang Mitterer (AT), Tim-Erik Winzer
Composers: Wolfgang Mitterer and Viktor Marek
Performers: Ensemble Hajusom
Musicians: Ensemble Resonanz
Stage and set design: Jelka Plate, Markus Lohmann, Michael Böhler
Choreography: Jochen Roller, Josep Caballero García
Video: Joseph B. Tapsoba (BF)