Tannhauser
2021The exploratory Art installation investigates the material and physical aspects of Classical Music theory through a social engagement lens. In response to ideas of Materiality and physicality, deconstruction & reconstruction by means of low tech, focused on the composer's thinking process in public spaces and how it is perceived by Music theorists and the audience as a new construction of the world of sounds. The result is a deconstructed composition by a Western classical composer, Tannhauser(1845), by Wagner.
The focus of the installation is Western classical music and the influence it has on contemporary musical composition in society. How, in post-war times, the restructuring of cultural life would lead to reeducating the general public. One of the most prominent institutions to attempt to transform the image and the cultural purposes was the Bayreuth Festival Opera House, due to its Wagnerian past, which was even more poignant considering the centrality to German cultural history, nation building, and influence in Western Ideology. The focus on Wagner is because his advances in musical language, extreme chromaticism, and quickly shifting tonal centres greatly influenced the development of classical music. For example, the Opera Tristan and Isolde marks the beginning of modern 20th-century music. In this opera, he explored the limits of the traditional tonal system, which gave new identities to keys and chords.
This is also why he became so influential in shaping mainstream media, for example, in the 1915 movie Birth of a Nation, Blues Brothers, Apocalypse Now, and Alien Covenant, with the intent of the director, but usage differs, usually describes a moment when the lead character is in moral usurpation, usage differs.
Choice of composition. In July 1961, African American soprano Grace Bumbry sparked controversy in West Germany when she became the first black musician to sing at the Bayreuth Festival Opera House. She was cast for Wagner's Tannhauser.
It was a way for Wileand Wagner, who was the Opera director, to cut ties with the past, but additionally, it fits in the narrative of how the black (female) body is seen in public space. In the end, this particular casting led the opera house to engage in racist stereotyping. Depicting Venus as an erotic, otherworldly beauty, Wieland reinforced modern German notions of the primeval otherness of black female sexuality. In the process of subverting the audience’s expectations of Venus away from a beautiful blonde to a black goddess, Wieland also instructed his crew to “present eroticism in a repulsive way.” His choices towards the casting opened up a Pandora's box for the term ‘black Venus’ because it has earlier historical roots stemming from the 19th century when a woman named Sara Baartmann, nicknamed the Hottentot Venus, was exhibited.
The decision to inscribe unto the records introduces additional layers to this installation, relating to the Theory of Verfremdung as articulated by Bertolt Brecht in “Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting.” This theory, applicable in theatrical contexts, fosters a sense of alienation from the performance by defamiliarizing the audience. Specifically, the moments within the installation that facilitate this effect are represented by quotes and speeches inscribed on the records, deliberately designing the composition to appear unfamiliar and strange. Consequently, this technique modifies the audience’s relationship with the opera.