Our own voices are full of surprises. Choreographer Begüm Erciyas invites us to engage in fascinating conversations with ourselves that familiarise us with our own strangeness.
Entrance for one person every 15 minutes
German language
“One, two, three, four”. Who is speaking? Oh, it’s me! When our voice comes from somewhere other than our own body, we often don’t like it at first: it sounds artificial and above all strange. Begüm Erciyas’ installation “Voicing Pieces” plays an enjoyable game with this strangeness. Erciyas turns the audience into actors, inviting them to engage in inspiring, humorous dialogues with their own voices.
Three acoustic cabins await visitors in the courtyard of the festival centre. Entering this intimate setting one by one, they read aloud a simple script that is distorted and played back to them in real time. The act of speaking and simultaneously listening to one’s own voice turns into a theatrical experience. Each individual interpretation of the score redefines the auditory dance as it becomes increasingly intense in each of the three little sound studios. The voice becomes a place of action, a spectacle and a surprise. After thirty minutes, you will have found a new friend in it and you’ll no longer recognise yourself.
Concept Begüm Erciyas
Realisation Begüm Erciyas, Matthias Meppelink
Dramaturgy Marnix Rummens
Live-operation Marc Melià, Julia Krause, Begüm Erciyas
Text Matthias Meppelink, Begüm Erciyas, Jacob Wren
Set design Tim Vanhentenryk, Lena Buchwald, Barbara Greiner
Artistic collaboration Jean-Baptiste Veyret-Logerias
Project management Barbara Greiner
Produced by Begüm Erciyas, Platform 0090
Co-produced by wpZimmer Antwerpen, STUK Leuven, Tanzfabrik / Tanznacht Berlin
Research and residency BUDA Kortrijk, Q-O2 Brüssel, FrankfurtLAB, Dance research NRW, Goethe-Institut Villa Kamogawa
Supported by Hauptstadtkulturfonds Berlin
Begüm Erciyas (BE/DE)
Begüm Erciyas, born in Ankara in 1982, lives and works as a choreographer in Berlin. While still studying molecular biology and genetics in Ankara Erciyas took part in several dance projects and became a member of the [laboratuar] performance collective. She subsequently studied at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance and won the ImPulsTanz danceWEB scholarship in 2006. The following year she presented “sites“, the first of meanwhile eight performances. Her latest work, “Voicing Pieces”, will have its Austrian première at steirischer herbst. Apart from her work as a solo artist Erciyas is also a member of the Sweet & Tender Collaborations artist collective.
Matthias Meppelink (DE)
Matthias Meppelink, born in 1982, is a Berlin-based performance artist, dramaturg, musician and light designer. In 2005 he co-founded the Monster Truck performance collective while still studying applied theatre studies at the Justus Liebig University Gießen. As of 2007 he has collaborated regularly with Boris Nikitin (most recently in 2017 on “Hamlet”), Cecilie Ullerup Schmidt and Susanne Zaun in addition to his work with Monster Truck. “Voicing pieces” is Meppelink’s first collaboration with choreographer Begüm Erciyas.
