Welcome to #bebeethoven
A direct follow up of the exhibition a song for europe, the project welcome to #bebeethoven presents music in an interactive, simple and visual way. Several Qr-Codes, linked to a computer, allow the visitors to pass from one presentation to another, without specific order. Conceived as a travelling exhibition, it has been shown in the Schickhardt-halle in Esslingen, the Bundeskunsthalle and the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn and the Landesvertretung Baden-Würtemberg in Berlin.
The exhibition proposes an introduction to the creative world and artistic works of the twelve fellows who, since 2018, have been researching, producing or composing in the frame of that unique program. It is an invitation for the visitors to discover new ways of dealing with art and music. It doesn’t pretend to replace a concert or the physical presence of a musician, it doesn’t substitute to the real confrontation with an artwork or live performance. But gives the desire to search and research, to read and to learn or, simply, the pleasure to discover new artists and their various creative approaches.
You will not find a beginning or an end in this exhibition and you should feel free to drift and explore the digital content with your smartphone or tablet. All twelve fellows are different personalities, with different relations to the figure of Ludwig van Beet- hoven. Do not expect, here, some “techno remix” of the SYMPHONY NO. 9 or “pop song” version of FÜR ELISE: the exhibition shows how much Beethoven’s legacy proposes more than a few tunes heard too many times. The fellows are questioning the different ways of performing music, of recording and distributing it at the age of the Internet, of manipulating technology by building new instruments or using artificial intelligence, of breaking the boundaries between classical and contemporary, of decolonizing and reading history in our globalised world.
The twelve fellows produced or selected in their private archives what we could call “trailers”. Between 3 and 10 minutes, the small pieces you can hear and watch in the exhibition are here to give you a taste of their creations.
Music is widely present today on the Internet and in social media, that’s why we played with the aesthetic of QR codes as a reference to the digital world but also as a way to give you the free- dom to create your own path. And also why we hope that, after your visit to the exhibition, you’ll dive in the Internet to find more information or music, and to join sooner or later a live performance from one of the fellows. Just scan, look and listen, enjoy and. . . WELCOME TO #BEBEETHOVEN!
Welcome to #bebeethoven
Schickhardthalle, Esslingen (Germany)
October 13 — 15, 2020
Beethoven-Haus & Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (Germany)
October 17 — 29, 2020
Landesvertretung Baden-Württemberg, Berlin (Germany)
November 3, 2021
Curated by Thibaut de Ruyter
Production: Lilli Maxine Ebert
Programming: Brendan Howell
Graphic Design: Büro Farbe
Organized by Podium Esslingen
Artists: Elina Albach, Kaan Bulak, Elisa Erkelenz, Quadrature (Juliane Götz & Sebastian Neitsch), Johann Günther, Mathias Halvorsen, Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst, Juri de Marco, Inigo Giner Miranda, Koka Nikoladze, Michael Rauter and Alexander Schubert
