Architecture as frozen music – music as liquid architecture
Exploring the relationship between architecture, sounds and body, The Shape of Ritual uses Pythagorean mathematical principles as a theoretical premise for harmony in Western music and architecture, in an experiment to consequtively translate the architecture of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity (built in 1974 by sculptor Fritz Wotruba and architect Fritz Mayer) into drawing, music and dance.
The connections between music, architecture, and the human body are explored through the visualization of a mathematical formulas and the logic of which determines the construction of both buildings and sound compositions. Starting with the translation of the architecture into a visual musical score elements of this notation are then transfered into music and movement in space.
The choreographic sequence was made in collaboration with Waltraud Brauner and Veronika Zott resulting in a 21-minute dance, that is a real-time negotiation between geometric shapes through the body.
Commissioned by Belvedere Museum Vienna | co-produced by sound:frame.
With the kind support of the Fritz Wotruba Private Foundation, the Municipality of Georgenberg (Church of the Most Holy Trinity) and Wien Kultur.
+ Watch a 1 minute excerpt of the performance for film here
+ Watch documentation of live performance here
+ Press release | in English | in German
