Alex Franz Zehetbauer with Christian Schröder
AyH (stage version)
AyH is a sonic choreography inspired by the working methods of the painter and mystic Hilma af Klint. Specifically, her interest in the séance and the archetype of the medium. The audience is invited to an embodied concert, which is composed live by Alex Franz Zehetbauer and Christian Schröder. Together they interact with a cast of experimental musical instruments: a hydrophone in the mouth, buckets filled with water and vibrating cock-rings that hang from fishing lines stretched between the walls and the performer’s teeth. Between seemingly disparate elements, a language is forming, both clear and indecipherable, like something you already know—or something ancient.
Hilma af Klint was a member of “The Five“, a group of women who met regularly to hold seances to communicate with divine entities. They documented their encounters with the divine through automatic drawings and a detailed cataloging of the information they received. This resulted in a growing language” of symbols, figures, shapes, and code-like letter groupings. Many of which can be found as central elements in Hilma’s paintings. The title of this concert performance comes from this language: “AyH”, which means “to find”. After the online premiere of AyH in January 2021, the stage version of the concert performance will now be presented at studio brut.
Alex Franz Zehetbauer (born 1990 in Brooklyn) is a sonic choreographer, performance artist, and singer based in Vienna. He studied vocal performance, choreography, acting and composition at the Experimental Theater Wing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and the International Theater Workshop in Amsterdam. Alex has been awarded the BKA Startstipendium für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (2018), the TQW Training Scholarship (2019), and the danceWEB Scholarship (2019). His work Brunnentroll was funded by KÖR, Kunst im Öffentlichen Raum Wien. His works wet dreaming at 52Hz (2019), AyH (2021), and hearing the wild heart (2022) have been co-produced by brut Wien. In 2022-2023 Alex is part of Freischwimmen, an international production platform for performance and theater.
Christian Schröder lives and works in Vienna. He studied fine arts/media arts/music at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Since 2010 he is a member of Kollektiv/Rauschen and collaborates with performers like Melanie Maar, Synes Elischka, Mariella Greil and Daria Faïn. His works were shown at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, among others. He was awarded the Adlmüller scholarship (2007), the BKA Startstipendium (2014) and the first prize for electronic music Salzburg (2019).
Credits
Concept & Sonic Choreography Alex Franz Zehetbauer Composition & Performance Alex Franz Zehetbauer and Christian Schröder Outside Eye and Ear Stina Fors & Robert Steijn
Production mollusca productions
A co-production of Verein Wilhelmina and brut Wien
With the generous support of the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs, apap – performing europe, Bears in the park, Im_flieger, Szene Salzburg, and Tanzfabrik Berlin
Dates & Tickets
February 2023
Choose your price €22 / €16 / €11
Choose your price €22 / €16 / €11
Choose your price €22 / €16 / €11
Choose your price €22 / €16 / €11
studio brut
Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
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Assessment
brut all over Vienna
brut nordwest
accessible
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
Subway: U1, U2 (Praterstern), U4 (Friedensbrücke), U6 (Dresdnerstraße) Tram: 5 (Nordwestbahnstraße) Bus: 5A (Wasnergasse)
studio brut
not accessible
Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
Subway: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße / Zieglergasse)
brut at Exhibit Eschenbachgasse
Eschenbachgasse 11 / Ecke Getreidemarkt, 1010 Vienna
U-Bahn: U4, U1 (Karlsplatz), Tram: 1, 2, D, 71 (Burgring), Bus: 57A (Getreidemarkt)