The three-part program explores the tonal possibilities of the TRANSFORMATOR – an instrument specially developed for the Spreehalle by the composer Marc Sinan with the ambisonic and wave field synthesis specialist Johannes Scherzer from Taucher Sound. In contrast to the classic ambisonic system, they combine historical loudspeakers with strong acoustic coloring and near-field monitors, which produce a deliberately heterogeneous sound that still surrounds the audience. The installation goes beyond the hall and runs in the immediate vicinity of the hall, on Europe’s largest industrial monument, the former site of AEG in Oberschöneweide.

Iva Bittová, Andrea Molino and Oğuz Büyükberber have all been cooperating with Marc Sinan Company for many years. The artistic friendship with the composer and conductor Andrea Molino, for example, began in 2010 with the UNESCO-awarded HASRETIM (2011). His piece SWARM for Marc Sinan (guitar) and tape is now being premiered in the SPREEHALLE.

With the help of the TRANSFORMATOR, sixteen pre-produced guitar voices can be heard from the tape from a wide variety of locations in the room. They don’t start together, but independently of each other. Only shortly before the soloist performs does the “swarm” gather in unison. This is the signal for the soloist to appear.

SWARM by Andrea Molino is the continuation of an idea by Steve Reich from 1987: ELECTRIC COUNTERPOINT for 16 guitars is a milestone in guitar literature. Andrea Molino understands the same possibility of the 16 “tracks” from a completely different perspective. He is concerned with the sociological picture. The simultaneity of a similar form, which, however, is not completely synchronized, creates an organic shimmer. Like a swarm of birds or herrings, dancing snowflakes or – to stay with the acoustic phenomenon – with the singing of thousands of football fans in the stadium and the chirping of a flock of birds. So it joins Reich with the fundamentally opposite shape, promising a different yet equally exciting outcome.

“Ever since I was a child, I was drawn to complex, collective noises: the chirping of birds, the collective chants in the football stadium or at demonstrations, raindrops on a tin roof… (…) Another fascinating aspect is how collective noises are made up of logistical spread reasons around the room.” Andrea Molino (free translation of his blog entry for the record company RAI COM.

Oğuz Büyükberber’s piece DISTAL takes up the bird motif and contemplates the song of various extinct bird species.

Ivá Bittova has also performed with the Marc Sinan Company on “I EXIST – nach Rajasthan” and other projects. On the border between jazz and new music, Moravian folklore and classical songwriting, she has developed her own expressive possibilities with her voice and violin. Her most distinctive quality is a deep spirituality that pervades her music. Their interaction with the sophisticated technology of the TRANSFORMATOR is an extraordinary experimental arrangement in which Bittova herself becomes the transformer/translator/narrator of energy into sound-sound-language.

Followed by an ambient/noise DJ set by JakoJako.