North American Premiere
Everything that happened and would happen
Heiner Goebbels
June 3, 2019 - June 9, 2019
Wade Thompson Drill Hall
Heiner Goebbels's fascination with literature, politics, and anthropology manifests itself in richly textured visual compositions that integrate a wide range of classical, jazz, and contemporary music. Having captivated Armory audiences with his hypnotic use of zeppelins, nuns, and a flock of sheep in De Materie in 2016 as well as in-motion sculptural pianos and elements from nature in his haunting production Stifter’s Dinge in 2009, the visionary director and composer returns for his latest highly imaginative production blending live music, performance, sound, movement, and moving image.
This new commission, originally produced by Artangel and adapted by Park Avenue Armory, is inspired by contrasting source materials in a sideways view of European history from the First World War to the present day including: Patrik Ouředník’s 2001 book Europeana, a surprising deconstruction of the 20th century that juxtaposes seismic events and trivial anecdotes often jumbled up and out of sequence; re-purposed costumes, props, and sets from Goebbels’s own 2012 staging of Europeras, John Cage’s interpretation of 200 years of European opera; and feeds from Euronews’s “No Comment”—original, unedited footage of that day’s news without commentary or mediation. Part-performance, part-construction site, this groundbreaking work is a poetic re-enactment of history, always on the verge of collapse and only to be rebuilt as if nothing had happened.
Performances
Monday, Thursday at 7:00pm
Friday–Saturday at 8:00pm
Sunday at 3:00pm
Run Time
This performance is approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes with no intermission. Please note that haze will be used during the performance.
“Goebbels has a genius for creating arresting theatrical images…
[he] never does the expected.”The Daily Telegraph (UK)
“German composer and artist Heiner Goebbels is staging history…[that is] deeply experiential, fascinatingly polyphonous, and completely hypnotic.”
The Stage (UK)
Gallery
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Creative Team
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Concept and Direction, Lighting Design
Heiner Goebbels
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Lighting Design
John Brown
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Sound Design
Willi Bopp
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Video Design
Rene Liebert
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Dramaturg
Matthias Mohr
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Assistant to the Director
Théo Arnulf
Performance Ensemble & Musicians
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Performer
Sandhya Daemgen
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Performer
Antoine Effroy
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Performer
Ismeni Espejel
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Performer
Montserrat Gardó Castillo
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Performer
Juan Felipe Amaya Gonzalez
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Performer
Freddy Houndekindo
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Performer
Tuan Ly
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Performer
Thanh Nguyen Duy
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Performer
John Rowley
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Performer
Annegret Schalke
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Performer
Ildikó Tóth
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Performer
Tyra Wigg
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Percussion
Camille Émaille
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Clarinet, Saxophone
Gianni Gebbia
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Ondes Martenot
Cécile Lartigau
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Organ
Léo Maurel
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Guitar, Electronics
Nicolas Perrin
Production Credits
Co-Commissioned by Park Avenue Armory, 14—18 Now, Artangel, and Ruhrtriennale
Related Events
Artist Talk: Everything that happened and would happen
Artist and composer Heiner Goebbels and composer, vocalist and scholar Gelsey Bell discuss the creation of work that defies categorization and the realization of productions in unconventional spaces.
Wade Thompson Drill Hall
De Materie
Visionary director Heiner Goebbels stages Louis Andriessen's monumental work on the relationship between matter and spirit in a highly-imaginative production performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble under the baton of Peter Rundel.
Wade Thompson Drill Hall
Stifters Dinge
German composer and director Heiner Goebbels' extraordinary meditation on how to enter the unknown and the unfamiliar in its US premiere, presented in association with Lincoln Center.