7.00pm, Thursday 3 July Programme 1
8.00pm, Friday 4 July Programme 2
Konzerthaus, Gendarmenmarkt, Berlin

Presented as part of literaturWERKstatt Berlin

`Australian culture´ is not unitary in nature and can perhaps be characterised by its hybrid nature -- cultural borrowings that come together and transform in surprising ways.

These concerts feature works which arise from or reflect Australia's historical and geographic position, but focus particularly on an idea of `Australianess´ formed where cultures meet or collide. Indigenous culture draws its strength from deep spiritual connections to the land and all of artist Lilla WATSON's work reflects this vision. She has created a sequence of blistered paper panels that form a kind of braille for an inner journey by composer/performer Timothy O'DWYER.

Then there is the Australia where British and European cultural traditions placed in a South-East Asian geography are finding new perspectives as they come into contact with Asian modes of expression. A part of European heritage is looked at `sideways´ or is perhaps `sidled up to´ in an unexpected or ambiguous way.

What links the components of these concerts is the notion of language and mark-making as expressions of presence and place. The definition of text is expanded to include notations that direct physical choreography as well as the incised symbols of ritual. These works weave music out of alphabets of memory, talismans of ownership and ceremonial inscriptions.

Programme 1
Burning House

7.00pm, Thursday 3 July
ELISION Ensemble, Robert CASTEELS conductor