"Vexations: Wir nennen es Arbeit (we call it work)"

Repeating a piece of music 840 times – that’s a lot of work. Work that choreographer Kerstin Kussmaul and pianist Jan Burkhardt go to trouble with the composition “Vexations” by Erik Satie, the longest piece of music in history. “We call it work” is thus the suitable subheading for their performance lasting more than twenty hours. It features a cleverly devised system of admission that thematises the attendance and function of the audience. The current performance at ImPulsTanz was preceded by a first one in San Francisco. This time, composer, pianist and writer Stephen Whittington (who became especially famous for his interpretations of Erik Satie and Morton Feldman) will join Kussmaul and Burkhardt as a guest performer.

See Kerstin Kussmaul's workshops at ImPulsTanz 2009