You little box, held to me escaping
So that your valves should not break
Carried from house to house to ship from sail to train,
So that my enemies might go on talking to me,
Near my bed, to my pain
The last thing at night, the first thing in the morning,
Of their victories and of my cares,
Promise me not to go silent all of a sudden.
- radio poem by Bertolt Brecht
In summer 2023 we, a group of refugees from the „Erstaufnahmeeinrichtung / Refugee Reception Facility“ in Eisenhüttenstadt, some artists, friends, neighbors, art teachers from the nearby intercultural centre, children and by-passers, gathered in front of a mural at Platz der Jugend and drew some lines.
Alltogether we met four times. Every time with different people and constellations. At every „Picnic“, as I, the inviting artist called it, sound recordings were made. The technical setting so far was always the same: a 4-channel-recording with a Zoom H4n and a pair of OKM (binaural mics) loosely being placed admidst the setting.
In English I did call it „New Kracht Picnics“. Auf Deutsch nannten wir es einfach Picnic(k). A picnic, with pictures, with blankets, cakes, music and sound recordings. With many, many questions towards... – actually though in confrontation with the art work by artist Friedrich Kracht with the title “The development of human society” created in 1965 at the wall of a school named after Juri Gagarin and funded through a public commission within the state of GDR.
Sound works:
Kracht Picnic I – How long do you listen to a rocket? – 17:49 min
Kracht Picnic II – Could you write this for me? - 14:50 min
Kracht Picnic III – How come this is a pattern, or else? - 7:23 min
direct link to listen via Mobile Phone and Headphones:
https://aporee.org/maps/work/projects.php?project=newkrachtpicnics
Video presentation for “mixed signals”; a short teaser for the final discussion of the project as part of the wider funding and exchange platform “C3 - codes, community, creativity” at the Harkat Studios in Mumbai, 2023. The event is organized by BeFantastic Bangalore in collaboration with Goethe-Institute and ZKM Karlsruhe.