The Megaphone Choir sings with the ghostly voices of a vanished place: twelve women* with megaphones set interview statements by former residents, users and neighbours of the so-called ‘Esso Houses’ on Hamburg’s Reeperbahn to music.
The buildings were purchased in 2009 by the Bayerische Hausbau corporation, which speculated on their demolition from the outset. With their affordable rental apartments, shops, legendary clubs and a petrol station that served as the neighbourhood’s village square, the Esso Houses had been an important part of every day life in St. Pauli over decades. The buildings were cleared in December 2013 and demolished shortly afterwards.
ESSO HÄUSER ECHO was both a demonstration and a memorial service after the buildings were cleared. The performance refers to a moment of failure in political resistance. It is not least about the difference between grief and resignation.
Heave a look around, all gone
There used to be all these drop-dead shops and bars
Well sorry,um
Sounds embittered
Sounds like always the same but
At the corner
There used to be a hotel
There used to be a small bar
Heave a look around, all gone
All the people are gone
“A very special atmosphere emerges – the hustle and bustle of the city centre seems to pause for a moment. The alienation of the agitprop instrument, the megaphone, into a polyphonic whispering and murmuring device, the replacement of political battle cries with regret for a loss, the use of irony and poetry as a counterpoint to supposedly instrumental reason, to the inhuman calculations of the political-economic complex – all this is what makes this minimalist performance so fascinating.” – Bettina Schulte, BADISCHE ZEITUNG (13 November 2014)
“The women look like mourners as they alternately beat the ground and their own chests. The megaphones in their hands transform into weapons, threatening throats or warning bells.’ – DEF, HAMBURGER MORGENPOST (3 May 2014)
“When the choir falls silent, it is completely quiet. The women walk back from the square to Taubenstraße in orderly rows. Only then does the applause and cheering begin, lasting five minutes.” – Irene Jung, HAMURGER ABENDBLATT (25 May 2014)
“Transmitting words that elicit a response from the viewer – that is what art can achieve.” – DERSTANDARD (10 September 2014)
Credits
by and with: Heike Noeth, Ann-Kathrin Quednau, Liz Rech, Regina Rossi, Annika Scharm, Siri Keil, Sylvi Kretzschmar und Lois Bartel, Verena Brakonier, Anne Brüchert, Doreen Grahl, Andrea Hantscher, Oxana Smakova, Anja Winterhalter
choreographic impulses: Camilla Milena Fehér
music: SKILLS (Camilla Milena Fehér & Sylvi Kretzschmar)
composition chorale "Mit Grauen": Christine Schulz
dramaturgy: Liz Rech
production: ehrliche arbeit – freies kulturbüro
assistence: Annika Scharm
thanks to: Initiative Esso-Häuser und GWA St. Pauli
supported by: Kulturbehörde Hamburg and Graduiertenkolleg » Assemblies and Participation: Urban Publics and Performance« (HafenCity University, Theatre of Research/ FUNDUSTHEATER and K3-centre for choreography | Tanzplan Hamburg)
Documentaries of the performance ESSO HÄUSER ECHO have been shown at Vienna Secession as part of SALON PUBLIC HAPPINESS/UTOPIAN PULSE (2014), at Württemberggischer Kunstverein Stuttgart (2015), in the exhibition TOUCH THE REALITY (Kunstraum Niederösterreich, 2016), at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, and worldwide as part of the arch+ exhibition AN ATLAS OF COMMONING (2018-2022). The performance opened the POLITIK IM FREIEN THEATER 2014 festival. Video of the entire performance
video: elektrosafari/ Svenja Baumgardt, Mario Gehrke
photos: Margit Czenki
