On Void and Fate is a lecture concert presented at Knistern, curated by Andrea Goetzke, Sumugan Sivanesan, and Melissa Perales. In this performance, I shared my work-in-progress on the idea of Suwung (void) and the Indonesian author/philosopher Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana. Through looking at the past, I reflect on the positionality of the present while and premeditate the future. What is spirituality in the age of generative truth? How far language shapes reality and power structure? I let the audience listening to my “Indonesian voice”. Within our shared space, only the my body and the body of the instrument vibrate and resonate, yet another language.
“Knistern” describes a crackling sound, and is also a metaphor for something that’s in the air between people, be it a crush or an argument. Something invisible that makes the relational space vibrate and spark. Something magical, intangible and not to be pinned down that is happening in the moment of relation to each other.
The series Knistern each time brings together two artists and a musical idea they are currently working on. They present their current work in a short set, and then have space to share their musical ideas in conversation with each other, a music journalist, and the audience. What happens in the space between the two artistic approaches, and what happens between people in the room in the conversation? And also, what happens between the sound and the review, the thinking, the tuning in, the conversation?
(From the program note)