CHOLERA - I THOUGHT I SHOULD NEVER SPEAK AGAIN
RHO & Choir Γλώσσα (Glossa)

15.02. – 07.03.2021
daily from 15 - 11 pm
The exhibition can only be seen through the windows of the Kunstverein.

What does it mean when exhibition spaces have become inaccessible?

The Kasseler Kunstverein addresses this question in the exhibition "CHOLERA - I THOUGHT I SHOULD NEVER SPEAK AGAIN", a 6-hour light-sound composition by the artists of the RHO collective & choir Γλώσσα (Glossa).

Although the Kasseler Kunstverein, like so many cultural institutions across Germany, has to keep its doors closed to visitors, this does not mean that there can be no exhibitions. Both exhibition makers and visitors are encouraged to explore new perspectives. Cholera offers the perspective of experiencing the exhibition space from the outside through the windows of the Kasseler Kunstverein daily from 5 - 11 pm.

CHOLERA - I THOUGHT I SHOULD NEVER SPEAK AGAIN is the prelude to the exhibition cycle "Holobiontic Architecture" by the RHO Kollektiv founded in Kassel and, according to its word origin, deals thematically with the choleric temperament.  

“CHOLERA - I THOUGH I SHOULD NEVER SPEAK AGAIN (15.02.-07.03.), is the title of a show that combines light and sound. It is the result of the collaboration of two performers: the RHO collective founded in Kassel and the choir Γλωσσα (glossa) which works in the Cologne and Ruhr area. RHO interferes in existing room structures by integrating complex lighting and sound systems. Thereby their traditional patterns are shifted into a new experience and perception for all senses. The focus of the work of Γλωσσα (glossa) is the unexplored and rarely tested potential of the voice, including all the shame- and rule-ridden stereotypes to which it is exposed. Γλωσσα (glossa) challenges the individual to question old conventions.

CHOLERA, according to Humouralism (ancient theory of bodily fluids), symbolizes the yellow bile - dry, hot rage. Anger, however,does not always appear in the same form; it wanders through stages, moods; approaches us in unexpected moments. Reflections that transform an unusual performance into an experience: Every day a composition of light and sound is presented and takes on these multiple layers of anger. It is an ambitious attempt to translate all the countless facets of the choleric mind into a six-hour composition that never repeats itself. Light-tonal structures, after remaining for a longer period in front of the windows, and possible variants of vocal tracks will merge with the light patterns of the film spotlights. Alienating through its increasing intensity, it might surprise the visitor.

CHOLERA examines an installational comparison of daily political hotbeds which open up to us everywhere while the cultural life is idle. Once again, anger is at its center. The temperature increases steadily without identifying a corresponding valve. As if it resembles a (global as well as national) movement of fundamental rage, constantly accelerating into it. Up to the point where the body breaks through the threshold of pure sculpture and the inside and the outside begin to communicate. The insistent invitation as "excluded" observers to be by yourself and yet, in the exhibition space, observing, listening, listening-in, to be duplicated.”

Text: Daniel Kirschbaum
Translation: Kasseler Kunstverein