Stream of Milk, Bed of Questions, Grail Machines

Germany commemorated the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner in 2013. In honour of this great composer, the Kunstfest Weimar has presented productions of contemporary art which featured or made reference to Richard Wagner.
The highlight of the festival was the new production of Wagner’s opera “Lohengrin”, which first premiered in Weimar in 1850 under the direction of Franz Liszt. The installation artist Georg Nussbaumer has developed a project titled “Stream of Milk, Bed of Questions, Grail Machines”, which incorporated the main themes of the Lohengrin cosmos and presented them as interactive, acoustic installations at the Weimar Schiesshaus and the surrounding park.
Along labyrinthine paths, the visitors have encountered numerous musical and performative elements from Wagner’s opera. String quartets played the piano score of “Lohengrin”, the Wagnerian “forbidden question” motif has been staged as a “Bed of Questions“, and the soloist ensemble Kaleidoskop performed works with swan feathers and custom-designed brass instruments. During the entire week, visitors were able to move freely around the grounds, listen to the live performances by the ensembles and view the entire Lohengrin installation.

Artistic director: Georg Nussbaumer (AT)
Dramaturgie: Michael Rauter (CH)
Artists: Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop, Renée Stieger (AT), Johannes Marian (AT)