The Project
The Project Description
The tangible basis for the inter-medial concert installation entitled »Abendmahl« is a gigantic table which is 42 m long. Surrounded by 95 wooden chairs made from over 10 tonnes of wood, acrylic glass, steel, tar paint and over 100,000 white feathers, the object as a whole, with its impressive and unconventional appearance, also highlights the historic consequences of the Reformation.
Project Trailer | ABENDMAHL – »abnehmender Schrecken | zunehmende Liebe«
The table object as a whole will occupy a central position on the market square in Leipzig, the Cathedral square in Erfurt and the market square in Lutherstadt Wittenberg and, before and after the concert performances, will become a lively meeting place for the benefit of visitors and residents of the three towns.
However, the other, far more spectacular intention of the art work as a whole only emerges in the inter-medial concert installation which will take place on three consecutive Saturdays in Leipzig (Sept. 2), Erfurt (Sept. 9) and Lutherstadt Wittenberg (Sept. 16). For this, 95 singers will take their places at the table and present an intense and spectacular world premiere performance of the trans-medial composition by the composer and media artist Thomas Christoph Heyde lasting approximately 35 minutes.
Track systems are integrated into the table along which four special cameras can move to film the singers’ faces. These images are displayed on four transparent video screens which hang above the table. The camera movements and the museum-like scenes are conceived as an integrated process which is synchronised with the music and meticulously composed. The artistic ensemble carries out a sophisticated movement choreography comprising over 400 different gestures.
The basis for the text of the work is the original Latin text of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses together with Heyde’s text entitled »Vaterunser | Muttermein«.