The violin is undoubtedly one of the most representative instruments of European musical culture. This makes it ideal for a reflection on the role and influence that Europe has had on music in other parts of the world, if it is a reflection made from Europe, and with the problems that this fact entails. Improvisation, on the other hand, has been ignored by the official European culture, which since the 10th century has given more value to written music, considering it more cultured. This has not been the case in other cultures, which have seen improvisation as an equally legitimate practice. In this sense, improvising while playing the violin can be understood as a contradiction, and also as a declaration of intent within the framework of this exhibition. The artist proposes a journey that transforms concepts such as frontier, an invisible but often impassable limit, into experience, and questions the existence of Europe as a political entity. He also reflects on cultural diversity, the idea of property, wealth, among others, constructing a physical but also metaphorical journey through a limited space.

Image: Cristina Marx - Photomusix

By Gunda Gottschalk

In collaboration with Festival Mixtur

Gunda Gottschalk performs improvised and contemporary music and combines her sound work with dance, theatre, film, composition, visual arts and literature. With her ensembles she is represented at contemporary and improvised music festivals all over Europe and has already given performances in the USA, Canada, Russia, Mongolia, China and Myanmar. In NRW, she animates the scene through various activities: concerts with Partita Radicale, free interdisciplinary projects, the NRW Sound Outings series and programming at Peter Kowald Gesellschaft's "ORT".