The project STARE ÜBER BERLIN - STARLINGS OVER BERLIN is concerned with a natural phenomenon in the midst of the metropolis - the annual gathering of some forty thousand starlings on the Museum Island in the centre of Berlin. Lengthy preparations and direct cooperation with artists, ethologists and ornithologists have culminated in a programme which will shed light upon the phenomenology of birdsong while also documenting the influence of the latter on artistic/aesthetic forms. Behavioural scientists, musicologists and artists will discuss the social behaviour and song of the starling from ethological and musicological points of view.
Bearing the title KLANGKUNST TRIFFT BIOMUSIKOLOGIE - SOUND ART MEETS BIOMUSICOLOGY, the symposium will address four chief themes: Introductory philosophical reflections on the formation of starling flocks will be followed by scientific explanations of this form of social behaviour. Attention will then turn to the calls of the starling and its ability to imitate voices. Insights will be provided into the species' cultural history, taking such aspects as its cerebral aural mechanisms into consideration. Finally, through the discussion of structural similarities and the influence of birdsong on music, the way will be paved for the transition from ethology to musicology. In the series ÄSTHETISCHE ANALOGIEN DES VOGELSANGS - AESTHETIC ANALOGIES OF BIRDSONG, taking place at various locations in the city, STARE ÜBER BERLIN - STARLINGS OVER BERLIN will present sound installations and concerts revolving around the influence of birdsong on - and its incorporation in - art and music. In addition to musical works of the seventeenth to twenty-first centuries, visitors can enjoy a composition written especially for this occasion. The sound installations to be presented will concern themselves with the calls of the starling from a variety of perspectives, and particularly with this bird's ability to imitate voices and sounds.
STARLINGS OVER BERLIN is a project by Tilman Küntzel. It is supported by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds and realized in cooperation with Podewil/Berliner Kulturveranstaltungs-GmbH in partnership with the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, the Staatsoper unter den Linden and the MuseumsInselFestival/Staatliche Museum zu Berlin.
All informationen, background, programm, tickets, downloads etc. at: http://www.stare.info
The symposium will be accompanied by a catalogue.
OVERVIEW:
Friday, Sept. 3
* from 6 p.m.: Opening events, exhibition openings
* 7 p.m.: Lecture, Märkisches Museum
* 9 p.m.: Lecture, Podewil
* 10.30 p.m.: Concert, Podewil
Saturday, Sept. 4
* 11a.m. - 7 p.m. Symposium, Podewil
* 9 p.m.: Concert, Podewil
Sunday, Sept. 5
* 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.: Symposium / Brunch / Round Table, Podewil
* 7 p.m.: Concert, MuseumsInselFestival
Monday, Sept. 6
8 p.m.: Concert, Apollo Hall of the State Opera House (Staatsoper), Unter den Linden
Friday, Sept. 24.
* 7 p.m.: Concert, Automatophone Room of the Märkisches Museum
Installations:
* Sept. 4 - 12, Podewil
* Sept. 4 - 24, Märkisches Museum
DETAILED PROGRAMME:
Friday, September 3, 2004
6 p.m.: MÄRKISCHES MUSEUM: Opening
* Welcoming address by Dr. Kurt Winkler, General Director of the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin
EXHIBITION OPENING I
* Christina Kubisch: "Fourteen Windows and Fourteen Sounds", 2004 (in the tower)
* Jens-Uwe Dyffort / Roswitha von den Driesch: "Covered Parallels", 2004 (in the small courtyard)
* Jutta Ravenna: "Wingbeat (Field 1)", 2004 (in the vines on the outer wall)
7 p.m.: Lecture
* Csaba Bornemisza (Vienna): "Music of the birds, musical elements and basics of birdsong, music in birdsong"
- Bus shuttle to Podewil -
8.30 p.m.: PODEWIL
* Welcoming address by Elke Moltrecht, music curator, Podewil Centre of Contemporary Arts
* Tilman Küntzel, curator/artist
9 p.m.: Lecture
* Wolfgang Müller: "Unrestrained by copyright and GEMA / Starlings of Hjertøya sing Kurt Schwitters"
EXHIBITION OPENING II
* Wolfgang Müller: "Starlings of Hjertøya sing Kurt Schwitters", 2002 (courtyard and foyer)
* Manfred Kroboth: "Variation", 2004
* Jutta Konjer: "Ästelogie", 2004
* Tilman Küntzel: "Units for Teaching Melodies to Starlings", 2004 (facade)
* Andreas Runte: "The starling-over-Berlin-mobil-tone" 2004
10.30 p.m.: Concert
* Claus van Bebber: "LP Concert with Birdsong", 2004
Saturday, September 4: Symposium, Part 1, Podewil
11 a.m.
* Prof. Dr. Rudolf zur Lippe (Oldenburg/Berlin): "Philosophical-poetic reflections on the flight of the starling"
* Dr. Jens Krause (Leeds, U.K.): "The flock/swarm/herd behaviour of animals"
Break
2 p.m.
* Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Leppelsack (Munich): "On starlings and humans: A brief documentation of mutual integration, aversion and toleration"
* Dr. Jörg Böhner (Berlin): "The song of the star from the point of view of a behavioural biologist: Structure, imitations and individual learning"
* Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Leppelsack: "Aural processes in the brain of the starling"
Break
4 p.m.
* Prof. Isabel Mundry / Dr. Roger Mundry (Freiburg/Berlin): "Structural similarities of music and birdsong"
* Prof. Christina Kubisch (Berlin): "Birds that sing and song without birds"
* Prof. Dr. Rudolf Frisius (Karlsruhe): "Birdcalls - bird music" ("Vogelstimmen - Vogel-Musik(en)")
11 a.m.
* Frauke Behrendt (Lüneburg): "Cell phone music: Sound art and 'mobile devices'"
* Andreas Runte (Hamburg): "The development of audio software for cell phones"
* Brunch / Round Table with the contributors to the symposium
Moderation: Stefan Fricke (Berlin)
7 p.m.: MuseumsInselFestival: Concert
* Perlonex (Berlin): "Metaflexes IV", 2004 (UA)
Concert incorporating the live song of the starlings from their perches on the Berlin Cathedral
(Burkhard Beins, percussion; Ignaz Schick, electronics; Jörg Maria Zeger, guitar)
Monday, September 6: Concert
8 p.m.: Apollo Hall of the State Opera House (Staatsoper), Unter den Linden
Heather O'Donnell (New York / Berlin): Piano, programme direction
The programme:
Oliver Messiaen: "Le Traquet rieur"
Alessandro Poglietti: "Aria Bizzara del rossignolo"
Tristan Murail: "La Mandragore"
Maurice Ravel: "Oiseaux Tristes aus Miroirs"
Oliver Messiaen: "La Buse variable"
Oliver Messiaen: "L'aloutte calandrelle"
Francois Couperin: "Le Rossignol en-amour"
Alvin Lucier: "Bird and Person Dyning"
Gabriel Iranyi: "Bird of Wonder"
Michael Finnissy: "Nashville Nightingale"
Friday, September 24: Concert
7 p.m.: Märkisches Museum, Automatophone Room. Finissage for Exhibition I
RECORDING ANGELS: Martin Riches (Berlin), Aleksander Kolkowski (London)
"Cheep Imitation for Stroh Violin & Serinette, with Self-Made Recordings
played on Phonographs and Gramophones"
(UA, A. Kolkowski, 2004)
Tickets
* Advance booking, E-mail: tickets@stare.info
* Advance sales, Podewil: Tel.: +49 (0)30-247 49 777, Mon.-Fri. 2 - 7 p.m.; E-mail: ticket@podewil.de
* Advance sales, MuseumsInselFestival: Box office of the festival ticket office, Colonnades; Tel.: +49 (0)30-20 64 94 80
* Advance sales, Staatsoper unter den Linden: Box office in opera house foyer: Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 2 - 7 p.m.
* Concert, MuseumsInselFestival
Sept. 5, 7 p.m.: Perlonex, followed by film documentary "Nomaden der Lüfte": 10 Euros
* Concert, Apollo Hall of the State Opera House (Staatsoper), Unter den Linden
Sept. 6,. 8 p.m. Heather O'Donnell: 12 Euros
* Concert, Märkisches Museum
Sept. 24, 7 p.m.: Automatophone Room, Recording Angels: free admission
* Exhibition I, Märkisches Museum:
Sept. 4 - 24, 2004; Tue-Sun, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.; 4 Euros, reduced fee 2 Euros
* Exhibition II, Podewil
Sept. 4, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., Sept. 5 - 12, 2004, Mon-Sun, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.; free admission
Project organisation
Director: Tilman Küntzel <tilman.kuentzel@atare.info>
Production director: Regina Tetens <regina.tetens@stare.info>
Production assistant: Nina Orth <nina.orth@stare.info>
Editor: Diana Keppler <diana.keppler@stare.info>
Press and PR: Angeles Galbis Amoros, Katharina Telschow, Ute Beyer <presse@stare.info>, Gabriele Miketta (Podewil) <pr@podewil.de>
Technical director: Martin Kleinmichel <martin.kleinmichel@stare.info>, Max Stelzl (Podewil)<technik@podewil.de>
Project organisation, Podewil: Elke Moltrecht <musik@Podewil.de>
Project information: info@stare.info
Project office, Tel.: +49 (0)30-247 49 742
Addresses:
* Podewil, Klosterstraße 68-70, 10179 Berlin
* Märkisches Museum, Am Köllnischen Park 5, 10179 Berlin
* Apollo Hall of the State Opera House (Staatsoper), Unter den Linden 7, 10117 Berlin
* MuseumsInselFestival, Kolonnadenhof der Alten Nationalgalerie, Bodestraße 1-3, 10178 Berlin
