OLAF NICOLAI — (Innere Stimme)

20 hours long singing performance

Presented by YELLOW SOLO in LUXOOM LAB HALL
Plantagenstraße 30, 13347 Berlin

Started at 4 pm on December 3
Ran until noon on December 4, non-stop
Free admission

Performed by: Audae, Athenaïs Laffont, Victor Burton, George Gillert, Maximilian Kleinert, Júlia Koffler, Karsten Lohan, Maria Paula Mondragón, Albert Orgon, Mariano Rosales, Samantha Simmons, Monika Stienecker, Thomas Sturz, Daniela Ulsamer, Masha Wadi

(Innere Stimme) is the title of a notation used by Olaf Nicolai as instruction for a sound performance.

In Robert Schumann’s piano piece for two hands “Humoreske”, op. 20, a third notation, which cannot be played can be found on one page of the score besides the two notations for the hands. 

Schumann called this third notation an “Inner Voice”. For the player of the piece the voice is present, whereas it remains unbeknown, though not without consequences, to the audience, who is unfamiliar with the score. In this way every interpreter while playing is tempered by these notes, which he, although he doesn’t play them, is reading and his way of playing is influenced, albeit maybe only subtly. 

The performance (Innere Stimme) is based on the one page where the “Innere Stimme” can be found but the notes for the piano are masked, so that only the “Innere Stimme” can be read. The given melody is performed throughout the entire duration of the performance by several singers a capella simultaneously at each time. The possibility of variations and improvisations, in articulation as well as in the movements through the room, is left up to the singers.

(Innere Stimme) by Olaf Nicolai, since 2010, performance, courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin

YELLOW SOLO presented a new version of the performance.

Partner in realisation: LUXOOM LAB and EBENSPERGER

Supported by: Stiftung Kunstfonds

Further sponsor: György Jaksity, private collector