Empty Rave

Georges Antheil’s “Ballet mécanique” caused a sensation at its world premiere in 1926 and is still considered a key work of modernism today. The American composer transformed mechanical noise of industry into pounding chords and rushing cascades of sound, played upon four pianos. Antheil described his work as a “mechanistic dance of life” against the backdrop of a disconcertingly pulsating era.

The project “Empty Rave” presents this original masterpiece alongside a new composition, commissioned by the Überschlag International Percussion Festival. The multimedia composer and performer Óscar Escudero and the Spanish composer and artist Belenish Moreno-Gil are developing a performative composition for human and machine, embodied by four percussionists (similar to the four pianists in Antheil’s piece). Each will be positioned around the audience in front of large screens, which will record and virtually render their movements as they perform and dance. An eight-channel sound installation will enhance the three-dimensional effect.

With their project “Empty Rave”, Moreno-Gil and Escudero aim to reflect on rave as a counter-cultural genre and underscore the links between the avant-garde of today and a century ago. In this age of artificial intelligence, they sense (as did Antheil) the emptiness at the heart of technology and encounter it with a communal immersive experience. History and the present day come together in “Empty Rave”, which will kick off the Überschlag Festival in 2024. Inclusive, low-threshold educational formats will accompany the project and target a diverse audience.

Artistic director: Philipp Kohnke, Martin Mutschler
Musical director: Jonathan Stockhammer
Ensembles: sh | ft ensemble, Rummsfeld Percussion
Composers: Óscar Escudero, Belenish Moreno-Gil
Lighting: Sascha Zauner
Video: Moritz Büchner
Concerts: Kulturzentrum Pavillon, Hannover: 27–28 Aug. 2024