WORLD VENICE FORUM
Peter Ablinger: Deus Cantando (God, singing)
Palazzo Ducale, Venice
3 October 2009
Invited by the organisers of the World Venice Forum 2009 for a curatorial contribution, I developed this project in collaboration with composer Peter Ablinger.
My proposal to Peter was to apply his method of “phonorealism" – the sonic reproduction of audio recordings or "phonographs" by instruments – to render audible a text at the heart of the World Venice Forum: the appeal for an "International Environmental Criminal Court,” written by Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Adolfo Perez Esquivel and the XIV. Dalai Lama.
The initial idea to ask the Dalai Lama himself to record the text did not materialise. Upon request, His Holiness kindly declined, on the basis of his fundamental scepticism toward media transmissions of his voice. Instead, 9-year-old Miro Marcus from Berlin was invited to record the appeal – the voice of a new generation…
“The musical hit of the World Venice Forum.”
WE DECLARE THAT WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE: EDUCATORS, POLITICIANS, SOCIAL ORGANISATIONS, TRADE UNIONS, CHURCHES, FOR SAVING AND PROTECTING OUR MOTHER EARTH AND WE PROCLAIM THAT “ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE”. IN FUTURE OUR MOTHER EARTH WON’T HAVE TO “LIVE” THROUGH FORESEEABLE TRAGEDIES SUCH AS BHOPAL, CHERNOBYL OR THE DESTRUCTION OF ECOSYSTEMS AS HAS OCCURRED IN MANY, TOO MANY, MARINE DISASTERS CAUSED BY IRREGULAR OIL-TANKERS. WHOEVER HAS CAUSED INTENTIONALLY ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS SHALL BE JUDGED BY THE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMINAL COURT IN ORDER TO PROVIDE A CONCRETE PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT BY EFFECTIVE, PROPORTIONAL AND DISSUASIVE SANCTIONS.
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WE DECLARE THAT WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE: EDUCATORS, POLITICIANS, SOCIAL ORGANISATIONS, TRADE UNIONS, CHURCHES, FOR SAVING AND PROTECTING OUR MOTHER EARTH AND WE PROCLAIM THAT “ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE”. IN FUTURE OUR MOTHER EARTH WON’T HAVE TO “LIVE” THROUGH FORESEEABLE TRAGEDIES SUCH AS BHOPAL, CHERNOBYL OR THE DESTRUCTION OF ECOSYSTEMS AS HAS OCCURRED IN MANY, TOO MANY, MARINE DISASTERS CAUSED BY IRREGULAR OIL-TANKERS. WHOEVER HAS CAUSED INTENTIONALLY ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS SHALL BE JUDGED BY THE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMINAL COURT IN ORDER TO PROVIDE A CONCRETE PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT BY EFFECTIVE, PROPORTIONAL AND DISSUASIVE SANCTIONS. •
Peter Ablinger: Deus Cantando (God, singing)
Original Video
Constructor Computer Controlled Piano: Winfried Ritsch • Software Design: Thomas Musil, IEM Graz • Text: Adolfo Perez Esquivel & The XIV. Dalai Lama • Voice: Miro Marcus • Curator: Berno Odo Polzer (invited by Andrea Molino, Director of Artistic and Cultural Program) • Commissioned by Wien Modern for the World Venice Forum 2009 • Developed at the Institute for Electronic Music, Graz
TV Feature
Barbara Pichler-Hausegger produced this short TV feature for 3sat Kulturzeit (in German, English translation here).
Material
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Text Support Appeal
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World Venice Forum 2009 Program
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Deus Cantando (Website Peter Ablinger)
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Phonorealism (Website Peter Ablinger)
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Review The New Yorker