Résistance

Everyday objects & live video · duo · K3 Kongress, Zürich · 2022

Gemma Galeano and Diego Kohn at a table on stage, pouring drinks; above them a large screen shows their hands from above among cans, cups and a tray of crisps

A second life for things made to be thrown away.

In the consumer society we are surrounded by objects designed to be used once and then discarded: a bag of crisps, a packet of pasta, a soft-drink can, a plastic wrapper, the aluminium foil around a meal. Once they are opened and emptied, they go into the bin without a second thought.

Résistance is a series of performances that gives these objects, at least within a performance, a second or a third life. Not a functional one, but an aesthetic and performative one, based above all on their acoustic qualities: the tearing, crackling, pouring and crushing of everyday packaging becomes the material of the piece.

Résistance #6 is a ten-minute performance installation for two performers, disposable packaging and live video. Its reduced staging concentrates on everyday acoustic events, such as opening a bag of crisps or a drink, while a camera above the table projects the performers’ hands onto a large screen. The piece points not only to the ecological question but also to the phenomenology of throwing away, the very act these objects are designed for.

Date: 15 September 2022
Place: Toni-Areal, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste
Event: K3 – Kongress zu Klimakommunikation 2022
Piece: Résistance #6 (2021–2022), ca. 10'
Concept: Diego Kohn
Performance: Gemma Galeano, Diego Kohn
Materials: Disposable packaging, microphones, live video
Photos, video: Ferran Gorrea (photography, filming and editing)

Résistance #6

On the screen, hands pour crisps from a red bag into an aluminium tray; the two performers sit at the table below

Gemma Galeano drinking from a paper cup next to Diego Kohn at the table, microphones in front of them

Seen from above: two hands open a bag of crisps next to an empty aluminium tray

Photos from the performance at the K3 Kongress and a still from the live video. Photos and video: Ferran Gorrea.

K3 Kongress zu Klimakommunikation

K3 is the German-language congress on climate communication. Its 2022 edition, at the Toni-Areal in Zürich, was titled «Unser Klima. Unsere Zukunft. Klimakommunikation in Krisenzeiten» and asked how climate communication can hold public attention while other crises compete for it.

For the congress, Slide Ensemble conceived three musical interventions: Satz für die Gegenwart (2022) for quartet, with instruments and recycled materials; Tōru Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea (1981), commissioned by Greenpeace for its Save the Whales campaign, in an arrangement for alto saxophone and harp; and Résistance #6. With this polyphony of performances we wanted to express an artistic and multi-perspective view of the climate question in our everyday lives.

Slide EnsembleCollaborations

Rehearsals

Rehearsal: on the screen, hands hold an empty tray and a plastic wrapper; the performers sit at the table below

Rehearsal: on the screen, hands lift an orange bag of crisps next to an empty tray

Gemma Galeano and Diego Kohn at the table; on the screen above, four open hands

Rehearsals at the Toni-Areal, 10 and 11 September 2022.

Résistance #3 and #4

Solo · Marathon, Madness Festival, Zürich · 2019

Two earlier solo pieces of the series, presented at the Marathon of the Madness festival in Zürich: Résistance #3 with a beer can and Résistance #4 with a glass, amplified on a wooden board in the middle of the audience.

Diego Kohn drinking from a glass in the middle of a standing audience — Résistance #4, with a glass

Diego Kohn opening a can at a wooden board with a microphone, audience close around him — Résistance #3, with a beer can

Résistance #3, part 1 1:06

Résistance #3, part 2 1:00

Photos: Alma Alicia Olmos Ochoa. Video: Arthur Sobrinho.

Résistance #2

Solo · Espacio Abierto, Boedo, Buenos Aires · 20 December 2019

Résistance #2, a solo set with a can and contact microphones, in an evening organised by Espacio Abierto in Buenos Aires.

Résistance #2 · Espacio Abierto, Buenos Aires, 20 December 2019 7:42

Flyer of the evening on 20 December, 20.30: Carolina Rizzi and Sebastián Sangla, Luciana Arias and Luis Conde, Diego Kohn solo set, Cecilia Quinteros and Diego Kohn; organised by Espacio Abierto, Boedo — Programme of the evening.

Video: Juan Carlos Murat.