LIMBO

Consuming and being consumed as a metaphor: from yearning, almost allegorical eating to »bloodthirsty consuming« via »being consumed« to »sacrificing oneself« as grim catharsis. Similarly existential to Sven Ingo Koch’s »Simple Songs & Lieder des Verzehrens« (Simple Songs & Songs of Consumption), written together with the lyricist Jan Wagner, are four other cycles commissioned by the exceptional artist Viktoriia Vitrenko for her LIMBO project. The image of the singer accompanying herself on the piano as the most intimate expression focused on herself describes the »limbo,« the state of abeyance into which the pandemic has placed us. More song than art song, the vocal works reveal various psychological states of being in-between, with the almost autistic attitude of the soloist standing in stark contrast to the close-up perspective taken by the local and digitally present audience through the almost voyeuristic camera work. The hybrid play on proximity and distance, loneliness and global location reflects not only the artist’s situation of pandemic seclusion, but also the isolation of the resistance fighter in the prison cell: LIMBO is dedicated to the Belarusian colleague and friend Maria Kalesnikava, who was recently sentenced to 11 years in prison. The theme of irrational abeyance thus takes on a dramatic, very real dimension.