Vernissage - A film about a music project in four mines in Switzerland.
Video installation with headphones for 8 people: 11.7. - 13.7.2025
Duration: 40 minutesFOUR SINGERS AND A PERCUSSIONIST LEAD THE WAY INTO THE INTERIOR OF THE MOUNTAIN.
THEY SING AND MAKE MUSIC WITH STONES AND BIRD FLUTES. IT BECOMES INCREASINGLY QUIET AND DARK. INCREASINGLY YOU CAN HEAR THE ‘SOUNDS OF THE ROCKS’.Idea, composition: Beat Gysin / Film: Anna Katharina Scheidegger
About the mine music project
Svea Schildknecht, Francisca Näf, Jean-Jacques Knutti, Jean-Christophe Groffe (SoloVoices) and Dominik Dolega (Förderverein für Steininstrumente) performed Beat Gysin's composition Bergwerk- musik - Stille in four Swiss mines in 2024.
Music in mines?
The list of underground mines in Switzerland is long. A wide variety of rocks and ores were once mined, even in surprising places, out of necessity, out of profit, out of scientific curiosity - the mine music project had a historical dimension.
Many mines have since been closed down, but some remain open to the public. What are the acoustics like in the tunnels, what do salt, slate, iron ore or asphalt sound like? The mine music project had a geological dimension.
Mines do not run along watercourses, but along layers of rock. Therefore, in contrast to natural caves, there is less noise - the mine music project had an acoustic dimension.
How do you hear inside a mountain? Aren't the senses wide open when it's dark and the surroundings are quiet? Are there perhaps ideal conditions here to experience music intensively and originally? The mine music project had, first and foremost, a musical dimension.About the film
Not only the auditory experience in the mine, but also the visual impressions inside the rock were special. The film is not a documentary, but an art film with its own message. It creates a new connection between music and image.
Poems and aphorisms on which the musical pieces are based
Mystery (by Raimundus Lullus)
In reality (by Democritus)
The Journey into the Interior (by Lao Tzu)
Curiosity (by Friedrich Nietzsche)
Deep inside (by Søren Kierkegaard)
Fear (by unknown / Blaise Pascal / Maria Härtel) Security (by unknown)
Calmness (by Bhartrihari)
Silence (by Christoph Martin Wieland / Blaise Pascal / Kurt Tucholsky) Bangnis (by Rainer Maria Rilke)
Longing (by Siddhartha Gautama / from Ireland)
