Athletics of the Absurd

In the organizer's words:

Two performative noise concerts by Crank Sturgeon (US) and Hermit (CA)

HALLE 14 presents in collaboration with RFTS:

Crank Sturgeon hails from Maine and California and performed regularly in Leipzig between 2003 and 2016 - including an afternoon presentation on the ship MS Weltfrieden, which sailed the Karl Heine Canal. After an absence of almost ten years, Crank is now returning to Leipzig with one of his performances.

Crank Sturgeon has been working on the fringes of noise and lowercase performance art since 1992. Building on the foundations of the Dadaists, Joseph Beuys and Allan Kaprow, Crank blurs the boundaries between quasi-art lecture and presentation, fusing junk noise, contact microphones and irreverent wordplay with punk sensibilities. Crank's concerts emphasize the dynamics of the absurd and combine improvisation, props and bulky costumes with tactical approaches that balance between surprise and failure.

Behind the Hermit project is Eric Boros, who lives in a remote fishing village on the west coast of Canada. Boros started Hermit in the 1990s as part of the noise cassette scene, a microcosm far from the public eye that sought to create its own economic system in which interpersonal exchange took precedence over the mere transfer of money. In Hermit's case, this fusion of noise and protest reflected the DIY punk ethos and, despite its youthful nature, is still an expression of his work today.

Hermit's concerts are a testament to limitation and vulnerability; exploring voice, action-oriented performance and homemade electronic devices that scratch at the limits of their functionality. Hermit draws from these depths, weaving a noisily complex soundscape as he takes his body beyond the limits of shame.

The CD "Bun Journal" by Crank Sturgeon, released on Michael Barthel's RFTS label, will accompany the concert.

Further information at www.cranksturgeon.com and www.recordingsforthesummer.de