[After her Destruction] Story
[After her Destruction] is a multimedia opera project that was conceived and created from 2021-2024. Throughout the time it manifested in differet forms such as video, live performance, music and installation.
The narrative centers on the protagonist Girl, who grows up in a dystopian present. She lives with her mother MOW (Manic Old Woman) under precarious circumstances in a tower block on the outskirts of a German city. Given her boundless imagination, neighbours suspect a mutation in Girl’s brain. This prompts her to find out for herself whether there is something wrong with her. With the aid of the computer software The Art of Mind, which merges digital, analogue and Girl’s dream worlds, she embarks on a journey through her mind.
The programming of The Art of Mind is based on the method of lucid dreaming. It takes Girl to places in her memory that are configured as dreams or hallucinations, where she encounters various characters such as the Mysterious Lady Without Name, the Lady’s Lover, the Fortune Teller travelling through time, a Dancer, a Monster, her mother MOW (Manic Old Woman) and the [Choir of Mu’tants].
A play with perception becomes an essential partof the narrative. A tapestry of metaphors and symbols unfurls in fragmentary dialogues revolving around the concepts of normality and mutation, beauty and desire. The characters demonstrate different ways of dealing with the experience of not conforming to social norms and not wanting to fulfil them. The tension between external judgement and the way someone sees themselves becomes a negotiating ground for autonomy and freedom. “Do you even know the story about Girl, Girl?”, asks the Fortune Teller, indicating that narratives are constructed and thus changeable: “Mutare; it means to change. You know, some people are afraid of change.”
With each dream, the programme and Girl’s mind seem to become more and more intertwined, until it is almost impossible to recognise who is actually navigating the journey. Girl’s attempt to gain an understanding of the alleged mutation of her mind, transpires as a quest for possibilities of identification in a patriarchal capitalist society, in which violence is produced through classism, racism and misogyny.
Lila-Zoé Krauß considers unlearning what we understand as normal as a central means of change. [After her Destruction] questions conventional value systems and perceptions of reality. Established narratives in relation to class, gender and origin are challenged. The characters that Girl encounters are protagonists who—despite their being marginalised—have found ways to free themselves from repressive constraints. Their being calls social norms into question putting forward different narratives. Understood as a complex interweaving of social, economic and sexual spheres, gender evolves into a playful experiential space in which to explore alternative forms of agency.
2LP
The music of [After her Destruction] opera was released via Misitunes on 16th February 2024. The double album comprises 22 compositions and a booklet. It is a limited edition of 300 copies.
Written, recorded, produced and performed by L Twills;
Mixed and mastered by Helge Hasselberg
Vinylmastering by Martin Sukale
Cover Art by Louisa Boeszoermeny
Cover Art Inside (filmstill) by Helena Wittmann
Cover Design by Studio Hanli
Supported by Initiative gGmbH with project funds from the Federel Government Commissioner for Culture and Media In cooperation with Hanseplatte
Kunsthaus Hamburg; Solo Exhibition
From May 25th till July 28th 2024, [After her Destruction] celebrated its full length premiere in the form of Krauss’ first instituional solo exhibition. The artist has transformed the comprehensive project into a theatrical installation specifically for the Kunsthaus venue. Here, for the duration of nine weeks, the audience was guided through a 58-minute piece, experienced through three video and 20 audio channels. Its light, sound and image were dramaturgically orchestrated to turn the space into an immersive stage.
Photo Credit: Lila-Zoé Krauß, [After her Destruction], 2023, Installation view, Antje Sauer
Apparatus III: [Superego] at Secession
Apparatus III: [Superego] is a video, sound and performance segment of [After her Destruction]. On July 9th the segment was performed by Ophelia Young and Lila-Zoé Krauß at Tuesday@Secessions.
Social norms are negotiated between external attribution and self-description. In this ‘apparatus’, identifications are created that (sometimes) forcibly inscribe themselves into the body and the psyche. Procedures such as reintegration into the work system after a psychiatric stay, an application for asylum or the gender entry on the birth certificate illustrate that norms are not given, but are permanently produced. The body is not only a political archive of memory, but also the vehicle for the performance of autonomy and subjugation. Through choreographic arrangements and improvisations, Ophelia Young and Lila-Zoé Krauß enter into a dialog of movement and sound. Repetitions, disjunctions, synchronizations – understood as the practice of remembering (always differently) – are the landscape in which they search for temporary, autonomous zones.
Kampnagel Performance
On May 25th, Don Jegosah, Anto López Espinosa and Lila-Zoé Krauß presented a performance collage at Kampnagel Hamburg.
Framed by L Twills’ music, the three artists entered into a performative conversation between poetry, sound, language, drag and voice to open up a space in which emotions, memories, vulnerability and queer love find expression.
Finissage Performance at Kunsthaus Hamburg
“Sometimes, when I dream, the dream seems to be real. My imagination—I can’t stop it!“ (Excerpt from Lila-Zoé Krauß, [After her Destruction], 2024)
On 27th July 2024, five figures whom Girl encounters on her journey appear in the middle of the exhibition hall: the Lady’s Lover (Sibylle Peters), the Superego (Ophelia Young), two members of the Choir of Mutants (Rebecca de Toro, Don Jegosah) and Girl herself. Through choreographic formations and improvisation, a fragmentary conversation is created between words, movement, song and sound.
Thereby, norms will be negotiated: through processes of identification, norms inscribe themselves into people’s bodies and minds. However, they are not simply given but must be reproduced again and again. In this respect, the body is not only a political archive of memory but also the vehicle for performing autonomy and subjugation. Repetitions, disjunctions, synchronisations—understood as practices of remembering (always differently)—are the landscape in which the performers search for temporary, autonomous zones.
Photo Credit: Lila-Zoé Krauß,[After her Destruction], 2023, Installation view, Antje Sauer
Video
The [After her Destruction] trailer was released on 5th February 2024. The videos of the opera were produced from 2022-2023.
Dream I: [Matrix] is the first dream of Girl’s journey. In the scene she encounters The Mysterious Lady without Name (Linda Elsner) and the Lady’s Lover (Sibylle Peters), in a salon-like setting with a 1960’s juke box. Lover reads in a book titled Matrix: Mutations of the 21st Century. The more the three strangers speak to each other, the less clear it seem’s, who is appearing in who’s dream.
In Apparatus II: [1994] the Fortune Teller appears in the Apparatus. He travels through time and follows his own mission to recollect the lost pieces of the mysterious knowledge of the serpent. 28 years ago he had met MOW, Girls Mother, who told him about a dream she had of Girl before Girl was born. In that dream a snake was speaking to Girl, but MOW couldn’t understand the exact words. Therefore the Fortune Teller asks Girl to search for the lost piece of memory and hands Girl a vial filled with red sand from her mothers dream.
Dream V: [However, what remains is arranged by the Bombs!] is the last chapter of [After her Destruction]. In the dream Girl wakes up surrounded by red sand. While she hears voices singing from distance, she empties the vial of red sand, which opens a “portal” to a black and white world. At the portal she finds a boat and takes off into the unknown, following the calls of the song. Girl does not yet know, that the singing emits from the [Choir of Mu’tants], who live in a temple, in an unknown place and time, next to the ocean. The [Choir of Mu’tants] worship the Roses of Pireria as a symbol of imagination and mutation. In the space between voice and understanding, they are known as the weavers of memory. They sing about the contradictions between love and war.
Team
Cast:
[Choir of Mutants]: Suma Abdelsamie, Anto López Espinosa, Don Jegosah, Luïza Luz, Rebecca de Toro, Haiqing Wang
Girl: Lila-Zoé Krauß
MOW: Christin Krauß
Superego: Ophelia Young
Fortune Teller: Elliot Reed
Mysterious Lady Without Name: Linda Elsner
Lady’s Lover: Sibylle Peters
Mutant: Lexi Callimero Schnäbele
Production, Directing, Concept, Script, Music, Sound Design, Costume, Editing, Art Direction: Lila-Zoé Krauß
DOP, Co-Director: Helena Wittmann
Set Creation: Ricarda Johanna Schwarz
Production Assistant: Suzanne Caroline de Carrasco
Light Operator: Julian Gillman, Suzanne Caroline de Carrasco, Lars Rubarth
Set Assistants: Laura Haas, Marc Einsiedel, Mattheo Lange, Ben Lauffer
Sound Recordist: Nikoloz Mamatsashvili
Hair & Make-Up: Maike Albeck
VFX & Color Grading: Jacopo Fant
Sound Mixing & Mastering: Helge Hasselberg
Vinylmaster: Martin Sukale, Ramona Records
Produced in cooperation with Hanseplatte, Misitunes and Kampnagel
Funded by Initiative Musik, Rockcity Hamburg, Herrmann Krämer, Hamburgische Kulturförderung, Projektförderung Bmkoes, BKM