Ari Benjamin Meyers with Thomsen Merkel and Jan Terstegen
Serious Immobilities (Module 4/Instrumental Version)
6. 8. 24, 7 p.m.
The artist and composer Ari Benjamin Meyers presents an instrumental excerpt from his large-scale work Serious Immobilities (Module 4/Instrumental Version). The title is a quote from the introduction of the famous piece Vexations by Erik Satie: “In order to play the theme 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities.” Meyers originally composed the ten music-performance modules of Serious Immobilities to be performed continuously over a span of 6 hours a day by 2 musicians and 4 singer/dancers for his first show at the Esther Schipper gallery (Berlin, 2013). Module No. 4 as an instrumental version was first performed in 2014 in the famed Kantine am Berghain in Berlin. The performers then (as here) were Jan Terstegen (electric guitar) and Thomsen Merkel (electric bass), with both of whom the artist has often worked closely over the past 10 years. Conceived almost as a sculpture, the musicians play facing each other for 45 minutes, repeating and shifting a cyclical and energetic musical phrase, the audience tightly surrounding them in the middle of the space. The musicians become tableaux vivants locked in a paradoxical immobility of pure repetitive intensity, fully immersed and merged with the audience in their amplified sound.
key data
- Venue
- Stadtgalerie Zwergelgarten
- Date
- 6. 8. 24, 7 p.m.
Ari Benjamin Meyers
Ari Benjamin Meyers, born 1972 in the US is an artist and composer living and working in Berlin. His internationally presented works explore structures and processes that redefine the performative, social, and ephemeral nature of music as well as the relationship between performer and audience. Recently he has focused on the public and civic spheres and large-scale communal performances. His performances Unless and Forecast (LX23) are currently on tour in Europe.
Exhibitions
Meyer’s works have been shown internationally in institutions and festivals including at Berliner Festspiele (2023); Festival d’Avignon (2023); Hamburger Kunsthalle (2022); Theatertreffen, Berlin (2022); Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach (2022); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2022); MAAT, Lisbon (2021); Beaufort Triennial (2021); Neues Museum Nürnberg (2020); Schering Stiftung, Berlin (2020); VAC Foundation, Moscow (2019); OGR Torino (2019); MCA Santa Barbara (2019); Frac Franche-Comté (2019); Pinault Collection, Punta della Dogana, Venice (2019); Liverpool Biennial (2018); Nowy Teatr, Warsaw (2018); Public Art Munich (2018); Witte de With, Rotterdam (2018); Sonic Somatic Festival, Florence (2018); Biennale de Lyon (2017); Spring Workshop, Hong Kong (2017); Lenbachhaus, Munich (2017). Upcoming presentations include his newest film Marshall Allen, 99, Astronaut for the exhibition Nebula as a collateral event of the Venice Biennial, and a solo exhibition featuring Kunsthalle for Music at Museum Abteiberg in Mönchengladbach.
