A Journey of Artistic Discovery Across Europe
ULYSSES CO-COMMISSION: Alexander Khubeev at Gaudeamus
Organised by Gaudeamus, Netherlands
Don’t leave the room! Let furniture keep you company,
vanish, merge with the wall, barricade your iris
from the chronos, the eros, the cosmos, the virus.
The iconic 1969 poem "Don’t Leave The Room" by Russian poet Joseph Brodsky has lost none of its topicality today. For the Flemish Nadar Ensemble, it forms the starting point for an interdisciplinary performance about censorship, silence or speaking out, in dystopias that feel uncomfortably current.
Alexander Khubeev, winner of the Gaudeamus Award 2015, ‘voices’ Brodsky’s poem about censorship, a pandemic and activism using sign language in this ULYSSES commission. The evening's programme also includes Golnaz Shariatzadeh, nominated for the Award this year, combines music and animation in Blue Womb, a haunting work about the loss of hope in a post-apocalyptic city. In The Chorus by Abbas Kiarostami, an old man struggles with his hearing, as an excuse not to have to listen to the younger generation. And Galina Ustvolskaya's intense Piano Sonata 6 was revolutionary music that was not allowed to be heard in the USSR.
