Raise your voice – Workshops with : Jo Caimo, David Helbich und Edyta Jarząb
Curated by Linnea Semmerling

Raising one's voice is as biblical as it is revolutionary. It is how the God of the Old Testament calls on his prophet Isaiah to convert the sinful people of Israel, and it is how non-governmental organizations campaign for signatures on their petitions. The voice that rises is the suppressed voice, the rebellious voice, the voice that revolts, the voice of protest. A voice rarely rises alone. As soon as one voice rises, other voices tend to become louder as well. Choirs form and we can join in, we can cheer for them, but which we can also boo or even muzzle them. The voice stands out as an important tool of self-organisation that unfolds its power between politics, society and the body.
The invited artists negotiate the relations between societal atmospheres (Stimmungen) and individual voices (Stimmen). In Eupen - city of singers - the voice is used in many ways, but rarely as David Helbich, Edyta Jarząb and Jo Caimo suggest. Trained as a classical composer, David Helbich investigates social situations from everyday life with musical means. Activist Edyta Jarząb trains women's voices for protest and takes a critical look at a culture in which women's voices are all too often reduced to animal sounds or the seductive songs of the mythical sirens. Visual artist and musical instrument inventor Jo Caimo brings strangers together in a spontaneous musical collective that stimulates reflection about group dynamics in music and human relationships in general.

PROGRAMM / PROGRAM

Samstag / Saturday, 6.10.

Workshop 1: 14.00 – 17.00
Edyta Jarząb, The revolution will not be amplified

The revolution will not be amplified, the means of production are in the hands of power, the more undemocratic it is, the louder we can hear it. These are the basic assumptions of activist Edyta Jarzab. In this workshops she will try to reinforce what is normally excluded from public voice patterns, the single human voice. The workshop also focuses on horizontal relationships and examines the vocal strategy of the “Occupy” movement - called “human microphone”.

The exercises include general warming up of body and voice, rhythmic and vocal improvisations in pairs and in groups, to enlarge the understanding of sounds that are produced in space with other resonating bodies.

The workshop language is English. The number of participants is limited to 25, we therefore ask for registration please at info@ikob.be.

Workshop 2: 18.00 – 19.00
Jo Caimo, Koorvorming

In “Korvoorming” you are invited to sing after a pre-recorded voice, which forms the score that is transmitted through a series of custom-made headphones. The participants are blindfolded, one ear is used to hear the score, while the other ear is closed with an earplug, so that while singing they do not know what is going on around you. At the end, all singers will receive a CD with a registration of their voice mixed together with all the other voices into an exceptional choir experience.

Sonntag / Sunday, 07.10.

Workshop 3: 14.00 – 17.00
Edyta Jarząb, The revolution will not be amplified
see Workshop 1

Workshop 4: 14.00 – 18.00
David Helbich, Eupen Tracks

The workshop will focus on the question of how artistic interventions can be understood as an offer to the public to become active on their own behalf. With the help of mini-performances, the participants embark on a real "trip". The first part of the workshop is devoted to the exercise of warming up the participants' senses and “thinking machines” by alternating between literally shouting at walls and ultra-quiet whispering. In the second part you will walk through Eupen to experience the city in a different way - with headphones and MP3-players. This tour is based on the audio guide "head and phones, land and scape, night or day, all one shape". Finally, you will try to formulate an all-encompassing question that attempts to bring the workshops goal of self-empowerment at the point.

The workshop language is German. As the group moves through rough terrain, it is recommended that you bring sturdy shoes.

Workshop 5: 18.00 – 19.00
Jo Caimo, Koorvorming
siehe Workshop 2, see Workshop 2