Songs for a better future (2010-2011)
The project meant the production in various cultural and political contexts of several experimental choral pieces, the result of my collaboration with a number of musicians and choirs. The main idea of the project was to create utopian visions about the future and express them in musical form. I chose the choir format because of its emotional force and its ability to communicate an utopian, humanist and rational message.
In each of the places I researched (Bucharest, London, Vancouver, Innsbruck) I proposed to a musician specific ideas for writing choral pieces, which were then presented in the form of public performance shows. The video documentation of these performances will be used in a multi-channel video installation.
Matei Bejenaru, Songs for a better future, 5 channel video installation, MNAC Bucharest, 2015
Songs for a better future, 2 channels video installation, Contemporary Art Gallery of the Brukenthal Museum Sibiu (RO), curators: Liviana Dan & Anca Mihulet, 2011.
Performance Timisoara (2015)
Matei Bejenaru, Ode of the Matter, in the project Songs for a Better Future, Timisoara Art Encounters, choir performance with inmates from Timisoara Prison, in collaboration with the composer Gabriel Malancioiu, 2015
Performance Fabrica, Bucharest (23.10.2010)
The performance was part of the KNOT project, and it involved the participation of the "Madrigal" National Chamber Choir. Music arrangement: Dan Buciu, curators: Raluca Voinea & Angelica Iacob
The idea of the piece was to re-interpret Romanian songs from the Communist era, which glorified the workers and their labour.
Performance The Drawing Room si Tate Modern, Londra (20.11.2010)
The performance took place at the exhibition and symposium Best Laid Plans; composer: Will Dutta, curator: Cylena Simonds
The choral piece was conceived in the spirit of the modernist formal experiments in music in the first two decades after World War II. It is also a commentary on the way technology influences our perception of the future.
Performance Western Front, Vancouver (19.02.2011)
The performance took place at the exhibition Vector Association at Western Front; musician: DB Boyko, with the participation of the Voice Over Mind Choir; curators: Jesse McKee & Livia Pancu
The main idea behind this musical performance was to include elements that are specific to traditional Chinese music. The keywords work, memory, future refer both to the difficult past of the Chinese minority in Vancouver, as well as to its increasing future influence.
Performance Innsbruck (2.07.2011)
The project was part of the PerformIC Festival in Innsbruck (Austria), and it involved the participation of the Vokalensemble NovoCanto choir from Innsbruck; composer: Christof Dienz, curator: Andrei Siclodi
The foundation for the musical composition was the artist's interest for the phonetics of the German language and for the orality of Ernst Jandl's concrete, neo-dadaist poetry as a protest against war in general. The long and rigorous recitative sections and the crescendo at the end suggest a perceived aggressiveness of the spoken language.