In Zaubergärten der Musik – 28.September 2021
Audiovisuelles Klangkunstwerk von Thomas Strauß und Tilmann Krieg
The narrative of humanity is often traced to a primordial garden. Every emotion and requirement is said to originate from this singular, meticulously conceived paradise. Longing, affection, the reciprocal recognition between the sexes, an affinity for nature, devotion, aspiration, sensory perception, joy and empathy were all conferred upon humanity within the pristine Garden of Eden. Yet this conflicted species failed to achieve contentment or humility in its original state; expelled into a demanding environment and beset by doubt, violence, greed and hubris, it retained a persistent memory of—and yearning for—that lost sanctuary. The beauty, perfection, richness and diversity of creation are nowhere more apparent than in the forms of flora and fauna: their vivid brilliance, their mythic cycles of generation and decay, the picturesque opulence of their structures and the precision of their symmetries—a boundless creative imagination manifesting in ever-shifting forms beneath daylight and the luminescence of the moon and stars.
Humanity has celebrated, desired and fashioned this ideal. Echoes of the perfect garden recur across all cultures; it is invariably imbued with a sacred quality—one that elevates the spirit and imparts vision. Gardens have been designed and admired in myriad forms: from the cloistered monastery garden, a site for contemplation and devotion, to the opulent Baroque garden—with its statuary and water features, an emblem of vitality—and ultimately to the cemetery park, where human existence concludes as it commenced: in a garden.
One approaches the divine most closely through music—an art form that parallels the flourishing diversity of organic creation, yet arguably evokes deeper emotions and engages the human spirit more directly and profoundly than formal design or the genius loci of a landscape or garden as the seasons progress.
Thomas Strauß and Tilmann Krieg have established a close collaboration between music and visual art: the former as a musician, the latter as a visual artist and long-standing photographer of international gardens. Rather than merely illustrating the musical sequence with garden imagery, the project aims for a creative synthesis of sound and visuals. Through varied forms of expression and their inherent synergies, the church space will be animated by an imaginative interplay of projections and music across diverse periods, styles, and modes. The outcome is an immersive Gesamtkunstwerk—a total work of art—designed to engage the audience.
View the performance through YouTube
