Portfolio
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Panophilia
2022 Gothenburg, Sweden;
My role: Curator & Artistic Director
Panophilia is an orchestral performance project where visual artists, musicians and performers collectively create a site-specific piece beyond the confines of result/product but rather explore the process in itself. The idea: how to achieve the dissolution of physical, mental, and genre boundaries by creating something together. The happening is the outcome, there will be no product to sell. Instead, the process of producing art and live music collectively and being the productive body becomes the actual artwork.
The conventional delineation between performer and attendee is abandoned. We no longer distinguish between stage, orchestra, white cube, parking lot, and dancefloor. The event is walkable all around. Sight, sound, scent, locale, and people become one. There are no guest stars – everyone’s a guest, everyone’s a star.
I am the curator and artistic director for this interdisciplinary performance project. Panophilia is presented by Cornbread & Röda Sten Konsthallen with generous support by the Swedish Arts Council and the City of Gothenburg.
[experience] <<<
Process over
product.
Swarm performance as
artwork.
José González & The String Theory
2017–2019 Europe & North America;
My role: Executive Producer & Orchestra Manager —
I selected musicians, negotiated fees and publishing rights, organized rehearsals, and was the key producer between the artist management in Stockholm, the tour management in Gothenburg (EU tours) and Los Angeles (US tours), the musical director in Berlin and the orchestra performers.
From 2017–2019 I co-produced 77 concerts for José González & The String Theory in venues such as Royal Albert Hall London, Salle Pleyel Paris, The Chicago Theatre, The Apollo Theatre, Baerwaldhallen Stockholm, Funkhaus Berlin and The Los Angeles Theatre.
I also coordinated the production of the double album Live in Europe that was recorded during those tours.
[experience] <<<
One night of
magic rush.
Mind is a
razorblade.
The Los Angeles Suite
April 2019 Los Angeles;
My role: Executive Producer —
Interdisciplinary workshop at Optimist Studios, Los Angeles. A process-based celebration of community and creativity in times of division. Four days and nights outside the confines of commercial enterprise.
I curated the line-up, negotiated agreements with involved management and publishing companies, managed the record production and publishing rights, licensed the record to a record label, and organized the promotional campaign.
Participants —
Zaire Black, vōx, Morgan Sorne, Grayson, Addie Hamilton, Sekou Andrews, The String Theory, Jens Kuross, Shana Halligan, FreQ Nasty, Robot Koch, Grayson and 50+ superb musicians and singers.
The story —
In cooperation with the artist collective The String Theory from Berlin and the LA-based production company California Music I gathered 70 performers, singers, songwriters, musicians and composers from Los Angeles and Berlin at Optimist Studios in LA with the intention to compose, arrange, rehearse and record a whole album of 12 songs in four days — with total strangers.
We set out to produce a larger than life album that displays the immensity of the LA music scene and paints a picture of the diverse cultures that coexist in the city.
Since most professional creators in LA are used to having to hustle at all times and putting themselves first, we decided to use the occasion to set an example; we challenged ourselves and the participants to let go of the commercial pressures of the music industry for a while and rediscover the reason why everyone got into making music in the first place — community and creativity.
This intense workshop became what can only be described as a legendary happening. By devoting their time, talent and energy with the sole intention to simply be creative together, everyone did what felt best, not what would best help their careers. Paradoxically, and beautifully, the workshop turned out to become the starting point for further collaborations, one of them leading to a Grammy nomination.
The songs on The Los Angeles Suite explore the outskirts of electronic and classical music and pop, transcend the boundaries of genre and tell the colorful, gritty story of the city of Los Angeles and her people. Before the historical backdrop of a wall being built between the United States and Mexico the project became a passionate homage to overcoming borders.
For your consideration; The Los Angeles Suite has been submitted to the Recording Academy for a Grammy 2022 consideration in the category Best New Age Album.
[experience] <<<
Art is a
neurotransmitter.
Music is
contagious.
Hansa Heroes/ Meistersaal
2021 Berlin;
My role: Production Manager —
I organized this event for the Berlin-based performance collective behind the popular ‘Ein Hit ist ein Hit’ happenings and a corporate client who will remain unnamed, at the venerable Meistersaal, the legendary grand recording studio by the Berlin Wall. David Bowie’s seminal 70s albums Heroes and Now, Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life and The Idiot and U2’s Achtung Baby were produced here. The objective was to perform some of the legendary songs that originated at the Hansa Studios in order to connect the renowned guests with the artistic heritage of the site and the living musical culture that the studio helped create in the city of Berlin.
I was the key producer between the performing artists (among them singer/ songwriter Nikko Weidemann and other members of Moka Efti Orchestra as well as singers/ actresses featured in the TV show ‘Babylon Berlin’), the client’s Head of Music, the venue representatives, vendors, technicians and other contractors and the artistic directors who created the orginal ‘Ein Hit ist ein Hit’ format that was the namesake of the evening.
Scenography and photos by Dunja Berndorff.