MALICE IN SONDERLAND

MAK NITE© 01/2010
MALICE IN SONDERLAND

An audiovisual live performance by Korhan Erel, Istanbul, & Alexandra Reill, Vienna

When:
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010, 8 PM
Where:
Museum of Applied Arts - Columned Hall, 5, Stubenring, A 1010 Vienna

Malice in Sonderland [the German descriptor sonder evokes the exceptional or peculiar] centers on Lewis Carroll’s famous novel Alice in Wonderland (1865). In their audiovisual performance, sound composer Korhan Erel from Istanbul and Viennese media artist Alexandra Reill start with original material from the 1933Alice in Wonderland film directed by Norman Z. McLeod. Using experimental digital methods, they examine the theme and the story of this profound fairytale and interpret it live at MAK NITE© with a fantastical improvisation composed from digital images and abstract sound collages.

Erel and Reill question the societal relevance of Carroll’s bizarrely adventuresome story. The artists’ research on the topic led them to formulate the title anew: Malice in Sonderland. Malice: this playful change in the wording refers to the desire to injure, to do damage, to act in a hostile manner. And Sonderland? What characterizes capitalist societies today? What makes such worlds so special? Must—and can—a “hero” or a “heroine” such as Alice find her bearings and make her way in a society characterized by competition, in which one must fight in order to ultimately prevail? What choices does an individual have in unscrupulous societies that are oriented toward high performance?

Korhan Erel and Alexandra Reill pose these and numerous other questions on their journey through the twisted paths of Carroll’s Wonderland, and in doing so they create a "brave new world through the looking glass”.

Korhan Erel is one of the most important contemporary sound composers in Istanbul, and a founding member of the internationally known free improvisation group Islak Köpek. He combines computers with sound modules, oscillators and digital algorithms, the result being a new instrument in its own right. His compositions are based on industrial and found sounds, which he uses to create sound textures and acoustic collages.

Alexandra Reill, born in Vienna, is a media artist; she currently lives and works in Hamburg. On her “kanonmedia” label, she has for years been creating productions employing various new media. She invests her work with sociocultural themes, examining the societal and sociological repercussions of digitalization and the information age for human identities. Her digital visual worlds and live compositions are characterized by comprehensive thematic research, rhythmic dramaturgies and the conscious employment of abstract formal language.

MAK Columned Main Hall, Stubenring 5, 1010 Vienna
Admission € 9.90 with MAK guide / € 7.90 / reduced € 5.50

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