For years Nada Gambier, Mark Etchells and Thomas Kasebacher have traversed Europe, via a.o Tbilisi, Lille, Kortrijk and Zagreb. In each place they talked for a month with the inhabitants about their world view and concepts like 'belonging somewhere', 'change' and 'prosperity'. They bundled their endless talks in a book, an exhibition ánd a performance. The monumental The Voice of a City picks up what politicians left lying about : the multicoloured voice of a diverse city.
In the exhibition posters tell us about a fictitious city which is based on the cities the artists visited. These posters are accompanied by two films, a model town made of found materials and a map. The material tempts the spectator to make a journey which makes the public voyeuristic and intimate, mixes history with prophecy and fact with fiction.
The performance is an intimate meeting between the three makers and the public. Seventeen people can gather round the table with Nada, Mark and Thomas. The spectator is not only taken along in a rich puzzle full of people and stories in which the many faces of the continent reveal themselves. Together with the artists you also reflect on subjects
such as change, history, mobility and social inequality in Europe and outside. Afterwards you can look at the material from the process in the foyer where the book The Voice of a City is offered for sale.
PROJECT INITIATED AND DIRECTED BY Nada Gambier / MADE IN COLLABORATION WITH Mark Etchells, Thomas Kasebacher and all the people who gracefully have shared their time and stories in the process / SET DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE BY Amber Vandenhoeck / PAINTING FOR TABLECLOTH BY Eugenie Obolensky / EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING ADVICE BY Tim Etchells, Kristien Vanden Brande, Jeroen Peeters / TECHNICAL MATTERS BY Joshua Vanhaverbeke / PROJECT PRODUCED BY Nada & Co. (Brussels, BE) / CO-PRODUCED BY Next International Festival / Kunstencentrum BUDA (FR/ BE), ECCE vzw, Brussels (BE), C-Takt, Neerpelt (BE) / SUPPORTED BY (IN BELGIUM): WpZimmer, Antwerp/ La Bellone, Brussels/ SAS Parenthèse, Brussels/ Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek Brussel (ABROAD): Gallery Nectar, Tbilisi (GE)/ Saari Artist’s residencies and Kone Foundation (FI)/ Mind the Fact festival, Athens (GR)/ Tanzhaus Zurich (CH) / The Voice of a City received a Writing Aid by the IN SITU platform, in the frame of the ACT project, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union in 2018. The project receives project subsidies 2017-19 from the Flemish Ministry of Culture / SPECIAL THANKS TO Ant Hampton and Richard Lowdon for their advice during the creation process / THANK YOU ALSO TO Le Vivat in Armentières (FR) and Le Phénix in Valenciennes (FR) for local help.
