One-hour concert-installation in an abandoned house in the outskirts

for ensemble, light, video, electronics
2016



English Program Notes:
„Black Mirror“ is a concert installation in an and around an abandoned hotel located at the city border of Luxembourg. The audience arrives with a bus and is equipped with wireless headphones, a cape and a cat mask. From this point on audience and performers all look alike. The audience is guided through the space via headphone instructions interacting with each other and the performers. The hotel is put into different audiovisual situations - it’s a dream-like scene supported by surround-sound, automated moving light, performance and video projection. The aim is to create an immersive setting in which the audience is both thrown back to themselves and also confronted with an anonymous group identity. Both the group situation and the specific site of the abandoned hotel lay the scene for the emotional, subjective plot of the piece. It’s designed as a return to a forgotten place which stands for avoided, hurtful and dark memories. It’s as if returning to a grave stone - confronting one’s past and one’s vulnerability. The setting allows all kinds of horrific imagery and scary scenery - but is merely used as a metaphor for what is supposed to be an honest emotional confrontation with past, evanescence and grief.