Arts Guide
On the opening night at the Orpheum, the duo Navaridas and Deutinger will provide entertainment. Marta Navaridas and Alex Deutinger are two interdisciplinary choreographers and artists who explore social and political contexts and environments, translating them into their artistic language. In the production “Bounce,” presented at the festival, the performance duo, together with electronic musician Manuel Riegler, harpist Eduardo Raon, violinist Matteo Haitzmann, and three dancers, will celebrate a ritual of togetherness, exertion, and transformation.
The Modular-Synth-Alchemist Suzanne Ciani, who was introduced during the music programme, will not only present a multi-channel live set on Thursday, but also activate the Schlossberg elevator with a sound installation specifically composed for this purpose. The now-established commissioned format “Music For Elevators”, supported by KIÖR and New Perspectives for Action, will transform the futuristic-looking lift cabin into an associative and sound-imaginative cabinet of curiosities for one year. Ciani’s ethereal sci-fi sounds will turn the Schlossberg into a cinematic backdrop. An exclusive vinyl postcard pressed for the occasion will also be available for purchase.
As another project realised within the context of Elevate Arts, an impressive installation will be exhibited in the now decommissioned Schlossberg tunnels. “Data’s Inferno” is an immersive procession through a digital reinterpretation of Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell.
“Each station reveals a modern crisis of trust, which intensifies with each circle,” reads the press release for the installation by Grammy-nominated Austrian new-media artist and creative director Berit Gwendolyn Gilma, and New York-based architectural designer and interdisciplinary artist Andreas Palfinger. The collaboratively conceived installation transforms input data into 3D sculptures and holograms, illustrating how digital systems spread misinformation, causing users‘ trust to spiral into crisis.
A final project realised as part of Elevate Arts will have its world premiere on Saturday afternoon at Graz‘s Mariahilferplatz, resonating throughout the city. The Carillon, the tower bells of Mariahilferkirche, will ring out. The piece “Change Ringing” was commissioned specifically for the “Creation Bell Chime” and was composed by Graz-based musician and composer Annesley Black, with support from musicians Alyssa Aska and Martin Ritter. The project is realised in cooperation with the Institute for Public Art in Styria and the Creative Europe Project: New Perspectives for Action (Re-Imagine Europe). The result will be captured on a specially crafted vinyl postcard.
