constructs of sanity by LABOUR | 2019
Museum Kesselhaus Herzberge for Musica Sanae      

For the occasion of Musica Sanae, a 3-part sonic arts festival focused on our notions of hygiene, health, well-being, progress and sanity, LABOUR refer to the conceptual background of their previous work next time, die consciously with consideration for the notion of the self as constructed and construct-able, therefore deconstruct-able, and of finding ourselves in the wake of absolute heteronomy – ourselves being constructed entirely by external forces, and from here, consideration for notions of societal normalisation. It is through the lens of normalisation, from the colloquial to the systemic, that LABOUR arrive at notions of sanity in the phenomena, both contemporary and historical, of designating certain states, behaviours, conditions and ultimately individuals as sane or insane (or degrees of), and the concomitant resonance of these designations be they privilege (in the case of a designated saint who is ‘granted’ permission to hear the voice of God, for example) to degrees of stigmatisation including the most severe.  Formally, this piece engages a range of sensory elements including sonic composition, percussion ensemble, acoustic piano, photography, performer presence and audience movement not only between multiple levels of a single space but also outside to a nearby building on the grounds of the still functioning psychiatric hospital in Berlin, the Evangelisches Krankenhaus Königin Elisabeth Herzberge.