In January, I was invited to collaborate as a stage photographer in a music theater piece – ‘Songs for Captured Voices’ by Thea Reifler, Philipp Bergmann, Sandra E. Blatterer, Laure M. Hiendl, Göksu Kunak a.k.a. Gucci Chunk, Elaine Mitchener, Nico Navarro Rueda, Djibril Sall and the Ensemble KNM Berlin. The project centres around human voices that have been instrumentalised time and again throughout history, having become the object of asymmetrical power negotiations.

The premiere was reconfigured due to Covid and, instead of a live-stream, it was decided to release the piece as an album — an online booklet with a libretto, photographs and a sound recording of the music, with an online release on radialsystem from February 18th-28th, 2021.

Co-directors Thea Reifler and Philipp Bergmann proposed me to recreate the piece freely with my analogue photography. I decided to shoot on medium-format 6x9 and focus on the elements that make visible the anonymous voices that the piece is dealing with, to reflect on a state of absence while capturing the individual body language of the characters inhabiting this eye-striking landscape.

The collaborative experience became as well a written piece in my current editorial series IRL Stories as a new perspective on the matter, full story out on Umbigo Magazine. Witnessing, documenting and being part of this shapeshifting creative process with such a talented team was a great honor to me. Looking back, it shows a lot of what resilience means when creating collectively despite all odds.

[Please download the libretto and the photo booklet here: bit.ly/sfcv-libretto-booklet]

Composition Laure M. Hiendl
Libretto Göksu Kunak a.k.a. Gucci Chunk
Voice Elaine Mitchener
Performance and Choreography Djibril Sall
Music Ensemble KNM Berlin
Direction Philipp Bergmann und Thea Reifler
Light & Stage Design Sandra E. Blatterer
Costume Nicholas Navarro Rueda
Photography Rita Couto
Production ehrliche arbeit – freies Kulturbüro
Graphic Jamila Wolfgruber
A production by Bergmann/Reifler/Hiendl GbR in cooperation with radialsystem. Funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe. The preliminary research was supported by the Initialförderung Fonds Darstellende Künste. A composition commission by the radialsystem, funded by the Ernst von Siemens Foundation. Media partners: Ask Helmut, ExBerliner and tip Berlin.