Tania El Khoury – Gardens Speak

Queer sound artist, musician and music curator Zosia Hołubowska shares their thoughts about Tania El Khourys "Gardens Speak" in a new edition of "Letters for later".
, © Jesse Hunniford

Tania El Khoury – Gardens Speak

, © Jesse Hunniford

Tania El Khoury – Gardens Speak

Dear Tania!

 

I am sitting by my kitchen table, observing the nearly naked trees outside my window and going through the notes I ferociously took after taking part in your performative sound installation. I had to scribble them down almost immediately, I had so many thoughts and emotions. And although I washed my hands twice, I could still feel the soil under my fingernails.

 

I keep thinking about how rich of a symbol the garden is, lavish, abundant, lush. You think of fruits and chirping of birds. The cemeteries I know, are full of trees, bushes, flowers, bees, cats, and squirrels, much like gardens. Some things come to an end and others flourish. Your garden was bare and fallow, yet vibrating with life that cannot be ceased or tamed. Sizzling with stories. There were no plants, just imagined bodies enriching the soil of family backyards. I was piercing that soil, deeper and deeper, clutching my fists on cold, moist dirt, trying to get closer and closer to the story.

 

The setting was so intimate, it pulled me right in and impacted all of my senses. I felt like I was slowly descending into the mythological valley of death. I first kneeled with my ear to the ground. Then I lied on my side, inhaling the scent. I had soil in my eyes, I didn't care. I remember that at the end, something was scattered upon us. I thought it was more dirt and that I was now burried in the garden too and will stay in this underworld forever. But it turned out to be white flowers, possibly dried. Dead and alive in one embrace like in a myth.

 

My first thoughts after the performance were: I could so relate to the thoughts and emotions of a teenage rebellious girl, aching for freedom and dreaming about the revolution. But then I felt ashamed that I dared to even make this connection. I am alive and I have never experienced the war.

 

Although I appreciated the time to seat down, contemplate and write a letter, I was lost for words. I felt guilty and powerless: what could I have done? What can you really do knowing there's such a horror happening every day? And then I realized, it is not and should not be about me, my opinions, guilt, and shame. And your piece never asked me to do something other than listen and pay respect. That was my task. I had to put in some work, get dirty and engage to complete it. To listen actively and with compassion. It is emotional labor that we often reject because we can.

 

I wanted to thank you for creating such a respectful ritual and inviting the audience in.

 

Zosia Hołubowska

 

 

Zosia Hołubowska (born in 1988 in Poland) is a queer sound artist, musician and a music curator, working and living in Vienna since 2016. They explore archives of folk Eastern European music, as well as traditions of magic, herbalism and demonology, and experiment with archaic ways of singing and synthesizers to create queer soundscapes, installations, performances and audio essays.

https://vimeo.com/showcase/6516050

https://soundcloud.com/zosia-ho-ubowska

Events

28.11.2019 - 01.12.2019

Tania El Khoury

Gardens Speak

Performance / Installation
Österreichische Erstaufführung
in englischer Sprache

September 2024
Mo Di Mi Do Fr Sa So
            01
02 03 04 05 06 07 08
09 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30            

brut all over Vienna

brut nordwest

barrierefrei

Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Wien
U-Bahn: U1, U2 (Praterstern), U4 (Friedensbrücke), U6 (Dresdnerstraße) Tram: 5 (Nordwestbahnstraße) Bus: 5A (Wasnergasse)

September 2024
varukt | Inge Gappmaier
now
Oktober 2024
Myassa Kraitt
The Last Feminist
Oktober 2024
Cleidy Acevedo
QUIET EMOTIONS? FREE YOUR MENTAL LOAD
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Asher O'Gorman
mind numbing filthy-finger potholes: a glossary of the paradox of boredom
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Alix Eynaudi & Guests
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Hungry Sharks Company
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November - Dezember 2024
Anne Juren & Matthias Kranebitter
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Karin Pauer
AVA
Dezember 2024
VIENNA IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA
unfolding poetic vision(s) on common ground

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barrierefrei

Währinger Straße 59, 1090 Wien
U-Bahn: U6 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), Tram: 40, 41, 42 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), 5, 33 (Spitalgasse), 37, 38, 40, 41, 42 (Spitalgasse / Währinger Straße)

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Ale Bachlechner
Ruin Your Life
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MO-ZA-IK (Rosa Perl, Viviane Le Tanzmeister, Jamali Abale, Mátyás Kántor)
Elevate

brut im Betrieb

barrierefrei

Vogelweidplatz 13, 1150 Wien
U-Bahn: U6 (Burggasse-Stadthalle) / Bus: 48A (Moeringgasse) / Tram: 9 (Camillo Sitte Gasse)

Oktober - November 2024
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brut im 3. Bezirk (Nähe Stadtpark)

nicht barrierefrei

Ort wird nach der Anmeldung bekannt gegeben

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Charlotta Ruth
Choreografische Spuren und Kettenkreationen

studio brut

nicht barrierefrei

Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
U-Bahn: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße / Zieglergasse)

September - Oktober 2024
DARUM (Victoria Halper & Kai Krösche)
[EOL]. End of Life
Oktober 2024
Tubi Malcharzik & Team
PASKUDNIK
Oktober 2024
Nazis & Goldmund
Please take over. oder: Die Zukunft der Vergangenheit des Widerstands
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Nazis & Goldmund
Please take over. oder: Die Zukunft der Vergangenheit des Widerstands
November 2024
Helena Araújo
and it gets better

Literaturhaus Wien

barrierefrei

Zieglergasse 26A, 1070 Wien
U-Bahn: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße/Zieglergasse), Bus 13A (Neubaugasse)

Oktober 2024
Nazis & Goldmund
Please take over. oder: Die Zukunft der Vergangenheit des Widerstands