Lullabies To Wake Up

Composition by Zorka Wollny & Christine Schörkhuber
Spatial design, electronics, mix by Christine Schörkhuber & Arnold Haberl
Mastering by Mikołaj Bugajak
Graphic design by Johanna Forster
recorded at: Kleine Humboldt Galerie, Berlin 2018, Galerie Knoll, Vienna 2018, Warszaw Biennale, Polin Museum, Warsaw 2019
released January 1, 2022 on Inexhaustible Editions

This is a delicate, murmuring piece created in collaboration with a group of young people from Humboldt University in Berlin. The piece consists of lyrics and melody fragments. All the lyrics are questions we ask ourselves at night, when we can’t fall asleep. The aim of the composition was to create a piece that is very calm, soporific in form, yet unsettling in content.

The questions, when added together, will wake you up in a revolutionary mood. If we all can’t sleep because of worries, if we’re overworked and overtired, if we question the meaning of our lives so much and can’t find peace at night, isn’t it time for a change? Isn’t it time to ask what kind of society we want to live in? We sense something is wrong…shall we get involved, shall we join the protest on the streets?

Sample of questions invented and performed by students of Humboldt University, which you can hear in the musical composition if you listen carefully:

  • Should I stand up? Should I fight? Should I speak up?
  • Are you scared? Am I scared? Is she scared of us? Are you scared of me? Are we scarred? Are you scarry? Do you feel safe? Are they really ok? Are we scared of them? Is she ok? Is she scared of him? Am I safe here? Is she confident enough? Am I scared of you?
  • Am I in trouble? Am i troubled? Is he a trouble? Are we in trouble? Are you in trouble? 
  • How do I feel?
  • Do I feel at home? 
  • Are you feeling happy? 
  • What do you want?!
  • What do I want?
  • Who is responsible?
  • What is happening?
  • How is it possible?
  • Is it fair?
  • Where does it go?
  • What can I do?

On the soundcloud and inside the sound sculptures of Zorka you will find an original Humboldt piece.

Sculpture – A cozy sphere into which one can crawl, shutting out the sounds of the outside world, is supposed to provide respite. Yet, even in the peace and solitude of home, anxious whispers will not leave us alone.

The two artists did additional recordings in Galerie Knoll (Vienna, 2018), Warszaw Biennale and Polin Museum (Warsaw, 2019) and Christine put it together in a form of an audio play, released by Inexhaustible label.
http://inexhaustible-editions.com/ie-047/

The collective choral voice is both a musical and a social phenomenon, highlighting the innermost, hidden and subjective core of social dynamics, reflecting dimensions of politics in both the public and private spheres.

21st-century neurosis with a sense of irony, I guess… anyway I find it funny and relatable. Artist Zorka Wollny often works with communities and voice to vocalise, perform and resonate contemporary local themes and politics and this time she is collaborating with artist Christine Schörkhuber.

Jasmine Guffond for HART Magazine 21 APRIL 2022