Marta Górnicka
Multitude
12.09.–08.11.2020
Gallery Weekend Berlin
Ebensperger ⅋ Luxoom Lab
Grundgesetz – Ein chorischer Stresstest
2018
Video
33’
Produced by Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin
On 3 October 1990, the union of the two German states was officially declared, and that day has been celebrated as the Day of the Germans ever since. On 3 October 2018, Marta Górnicka presented theGrundgesetz in front of the Brandenburg Gate with a chorus of fifty professional and non-professional actors from many different spectra of the civil society. They questioned the seventy-year-old legal text. This performative stress test sought to demonstrate the limits and the current tensile strength of the words in the constitution within the tensions of society: Who is the subject of the German constitution? In whose name does it speak? To whom does it belong? Who are “the people”? Who is “the majority”? Can a document which enshrines the fundamental rights “of all Germans” put a stop to violence and racism? Is any document that “guarantees” democratic values capable of “defending” them?
Artist Statement
I’m interested in the tension between law and violence ‒ the limits and durability of a consensus that protects us against violence and against seeing our opponent’s death as the ultimate way of resolving conflicts. This consensus can only be achieved in language. The words that are written into laws are supposed to guarantee disarmament. They literally knock weapons out of our hands and enable us to overcome the rule of violence. But words can also arm our opponents. Every act of genocide or systemic violence, every refusal of solidarity that brings death, are first effected in language.
German society today is deeply divided. Two different visions of community are clashing – national and homogeneous versus open and diverse. A fight is waged with words and for words.
Whose vision ‘promotes world peace’? Who is ‘the nation’? Who forms ‘a majority’? Who is the citizen? Who is the alien? Who does this country belong to? Who are ‘ALLE DEUTSCHEN!’?
By subjecting the Basic Law to stress testing, we test the maximum workload and capacity that its words can handle.
A production by the Maxim Gorki Theaters Berlin. Funded by the Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa Berlin, of the Federal Agency for Civic Education and the Federal Cultural Foundation. In cooperation with Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH and the Ramba Zamba Theater.
Cast
Maryam Abu Khaled, Emre Aksızoğlu, Abd-Almalek Arabo, Tamer Arslan, Elmira Bahrami, Christian Behrend, Mareike Beykirch, Wera Bunge, Karim Daoud, Saro Emirze, Aylin Esener, Hala Faisal, Tahera Hashemi, Björn Hauke, Katrin Heller, Lénárd Kókai, Mai-Phuong Kollath, Léonie Kurtz, Thibaud Kurtz, Lindy Larsson, Mariette Morgenstern-Minnemann, Nika Mišković, Jasmina Musić, Magda Roma Przybylska, Soraya Reichl, Mathis Reinhardt, Tucké Royale, Filip Rutkowski, Abak Safaei-Rad, Elena Schmidt, Marie-Carlotta Schmidt, Nathalie Seiss, SandraSelimović, Simonida Selimović, Zora Schemm, Helena Simon, Johanna Skirecki, Peter Sondermann, Fatima Taih, Hasan Taşgin, Füsun Türeli, Volkan Türeli, Linda Vaher, Annika Weitzendorf, Rika Weninger, Dusty Whistles, Paul Wollin, Mehmet Yılmaz and Berliner Fanfarenzug e.V. und SG Fanfarenzug Potsdam e.V.
Credits
Concept, libretto, directing: Marta Górnicka. Stage design: Robert Rumas. Concept choreography: Anna Godowska. Choreography Berlin:Tomasz Wygoda. Composition: Marta Górnicka, Polina Lapkowskaja. Costumes: Isabell Reisinger. Dramaturgy: Aljoscha Begrich. Translation libretto: Andreas Volk. Collaboration translation libretto: Paulina Dominik. Recording & live cutting: Jesse Jonas Kracht. Vocal coach: Lénárd Kókai. Management fanfare parade: Nancy Dressel. Collaboration dramaturgy/chorus casting: Julia Büki. Artistic advice: Agata Adamiecka. Technical directory: Thomas Kirsten. Coordination sound/video: Christopher von Nathusius. Sound: Benjamin Schultz. Video: Jesse Jonas Kracht. Assistant director: Dominika Homa, Isabella Sedlak. Assistant stage design: Luisa Puschendorf. Assistant choreography: Therese Nübling. Assistant costume design: Ottavia Tröster. Project director: Christine Leyerle. Production: Marie Milbacher, Leonie Webb. Child care: Shiran Shasha. Dramaturgy intern: Finja Wilke. Directing intern: Paola Borys, Janna Dohrmann.
Images
© Ute Langkafel, Courtesy Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin
