The Bourse de Commerce is hosting a performance alongside Anri Sala’s film Long Sorrow (2005), with interspersed appearances by Hungarian-American saxophonist André Vida and the Berlin musical trio Zinc & Copper.
Long Sorrow is a film in which free jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc (1946-2021) engages in a lengthy improvisation, suspended from the 18th floor of an uninhabited apartment in a Berlin building. He is barely visible, but one can perceive the effort in his cheeks and the furrowing of his brows as they produce the notes of his music. For this occasion, Anri Sala has invited André Vida to improvise live as the film Long Sorrow is screened. And as a kind of musical bridge, Berlin trio Zinc & Copper will play the piece Pons by American composer Duane Pitre.
André Vida
A composer, saxophonist, and writer living in Berlin, André Vida (born in 1974) creates pieces about the presence of physical gesture and the instant through notation. He has collaborated with numerous artists, such as Tarek Atoui, Rashad Becker, Kevin Blechdom, Anthony Braxton, Jamie Lidell, and Hassan Khan. He has collaborated with Anri Sala on artistic projects for many years.
Duane Pitre and Zinc & Copper
Duane Pitre is an American experimental composer and musician. In 2021, he released the album Omniscient Voices, a conversation between piano and electronica, and an exploration of psycho-acoustic harmonies and rhythms. That same year, he composed the piece Pons (which means “bridge” in Latin) for the Berlin trio Zinc & Copper, an echo of the pons in our nervous system, which regulates our breathing, hearing, and deep sleep functions. Pitre’s piece leads our consciousness towards dreamlike states.
Zinc & Copper is a brass ensemble founded in 2005 by Robin Hayward, whose collaboration with Elena Kakaliagou and Hilary Jeffery began in 2014. Together, they explore the warmth and tonalities of brass instruments, as well as a wide range of playing techniques.
To celebrate the work of Anri Sala and in close collaboration with the artist, the Bourse de Commerce is offering several events, meetings and concerts:
- On October 17, Swedish drone composer Catherine Christer Hennix presents her new keyboard piece Solo for Tamburium, echoing Anri Sala's Take Over (2017), a video work composed of two screens showing keyboards activated by human hand or programming.
- On November 18, a series of daily performances by American saxophonist André Vida, who improvises a duet with the work Time No Longer (2021) in the museum's Rotunda.
- On January 5 and 6, the Bourse de Commerce and the Ravel Festival present Ravel Ravel Revisited, a new look by Anri Sala at his work Ravel Ravel Unravel (2013), performed by French pianist Bertrand Chamayou.
