10 years after the mockumentary-work ’The Documentation About Apu Sakar’ in which Christian Winther Christensen agreed to eat an Indian man after his death, the cast behind it wants to further explore the idea of cannibalism as respectful cultural exchange. The result is Eating a Man, premiering at SPOR Festival 2021.
Composer Christian Winther Christensen and stage director Anna Berit Asp Christensen embark on a musical and personal voyage exploring the concept of “the unknown/alien”. The investigation takes its starting point in Christian Winther Christensen’s 10 year old mocumentary-work ’The Documentation About Apu Sakar’. In this work Christian agrees to eat an Indian man after his death. The purpose of the ritual is to honour the deceased by letting his spirit live on through the consumption.
Now, ten years later, the work has been re-composed and new questions have emerged: questions about the symbolic meaning of cannibalism, honorable cultural exchange and the concept of feeling strange or alien.
This production will also be presented by Sounds Now partners hcmf// Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and November Music.
About Christian Winther Christensen
Christian Winther has studied composition under Bent Sørensen, Hans Abrahamsen, Niels Rosing-Schow og Hans Peter Stubbe Teglbjærg at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Since 2012 he was the artistic manager of Klang Festival. Winther says about his compositions: “For some composers it is important to hit a certain style, but style is ever changing. The most important thing to me is to be part of the piece I create and support my own work. That is the only way for my music to be personal.”
About SCENATET
SCENATET is led by Anna Berit Asp Christensen and works in a field between contemporary music and conceptual art, often with a surprisingly non-instrumental, sensuous and bodily approach to exploring the relation between music, art and people. Within Scenatet’s 12 years of existence, it has placed itself at the top of the international landscape of contemporary art and music. The biggest Danish pieces, major international performances and premieres are all natural and continuous parts of the ensemble’s work. Bringing their diverse repertoire to experimental venues, renowned festivals and cultural hubs all over the world, SCENATET makes the most interesting experimental music and art widely accessible to the public, locally as well as internationally.
About Anna Berit Asp Christensen
Anna Berit Asp Christensen is the artistic manager of Scenatet, manager of the SPOR festival, director and curator with strong roots in both classical and contemporary music. Her artistic practice is investigating the experimental art music – and how to stretch its boundaries and the boundaries of the contemporary art scene. In her works she often focuses on space; as a psychological concept and space in the public sphere.
Composer: Christian Winther Christensen.
Staging and direction: Anna Berit Asp Christensen.
Scenatet: My Hellgren (Vlc); Vicky Wright (Kl); Rowland Sutherland (Fl); Matias Seibæk (Perc); Fei Nie (Pno); Anna Jalving (Vio); Clara Stensgaard (Voc).
Video: Christian Winther Christensen, Lasse Schwanenflügel Piasecki og Anna Berit Asp Christensen.
Light design: Maria Pi Houmann.
Producer: Mette Hornbek Hansen.