Sturmwelle
Stormbølge – Storm Wave
On a small square in Altona, in northern Hamburg, stands a stone with an inscription that tells of the time when the southern border of the duchy of Holstein and the kingdom of Hanover existed before the year 1864. It was a former border between Danish and German territories. Project Sturmwelle has the Danish-German friendship collaboration as its background, involving a Danish composer, a Danish musician, and a German video artist.
Søren Kierkegaard from Frygt og Bæven (Fear and Trembling): “Whoever wants to win the world must be willing to lose it; whoever thinks of winning it must be willing to lose it.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe from Wilhelm Meistera Lehrjahre (Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship): “Man can only overcome himself because he uses his self-perception to make himself the object of his contemplation and to let the foreign within him, whether it be the form of thought or a foreign way of being, be felt by him.”
In the above quotes, Søren Kierkegaard explores the paradox that by seeking material gain and power, one may end up losing more than they gain; while Johann Wolfgang von Goethe suggests that self-reflection is the key to avoiding excess and overconsumption.
Fascinated by the many possibilities offered by digital technology, a modern magic based on zeros and ones. But what does digital power do to us? Do we understand it? Can we control it? Artificial intelligence, money, power structures, the virtual world are elements in social, cultural, and ecological changes, the consequences of which are hardly foreseeable. We must acknowledge that our way of life is not sustainable; before us stands the catastrophic and uncontrollable. There is a need for a collective, well-thought-out effort, a cross-border critical thinking. In an international collaboration, we will develop a Danish-German project that, for better or worse, can put the consequences of our hubris into perspective.
The Project A three-dimensional video-music project established in collaboration between the Danish ensemble Contemporánea, Live Electronics Denmark, and the video artist Simon Janssen from Hamburg. The music composition and the electroacoustic 3D sound world are created by Ejnar Kanding from Contemporánea, and the video composition is by Simon Janssen from Hamburg. The Danish clarinetist and performer Fritz Gerhard Berthelsen (Contemporánea) is the initiator of the project. The duration of the concert performance will be approximately 45 minutes. The music composition for Sturmwelle will be newly composed for the occasion by composer Ejnar Kanding. The video film, to be projected on three screens (3D), will be developed by video artist Simon Janssen. Clarinetist Fritz Gerhard Berthelsen will be theatrically staged as a musician in simple sets. Fritz Gerhard Berthelsen and Ejnar Kanding will both participate in each performance.
Concert performances in are planned in Germany: Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Kiel, Lübeck, Flensburg, Rostock (all port cities) Concert performances in Denmark: Copenhagen, Helsingør, Frederiksværk, Odense, Esbjerg, Sønderborg
Digital release of music on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Youtube, Tidal, and others is planned to be in mid 2024.