Sonic Boom – Ludmilla Mercier

«Sonic Boom» is the new artist-in-residence programme at Gare du Nord. Eight emerging talents from the worlds of contemporary and experimental music will bring their visions to life through innovative concert formats, sound performances and evenings of musical theatre. Over a period of two years, they will each design and present two evenings in which they can express their individual artistic approaches. Accompanied by the venue’s own discourse format and mentoring programme, Gare du Nord offers a platform for audiences, the scene and artists with this series, thereby opening up space for creative encounters.

Washing: a central ritual of the Anthropocene. Cleansing, renewal, healing. The washing machine: an achievement of the industrial revolution. Rhythm, repetition, form. And the wash cycle: a tried-and-tested ritual, an interlocking choreography between man and machine.

The musical theater evening «lavomatik» examines the absurdities of our lives from inside a washing machine drum. Ludmilla Mercier and Jakob Böttcher create a dense, associative web of sound research on washing machine percussion and a polyphonic text collage. This does not claim to provide answers, but rather sets impulses from the washing machine biotope: What can a medieval legend about washerwomen (“Les Lavendières de nuit”) tell us about patriarchal structures of oppression? What does the strange concept of purity, which still lives on today in detergent advertising, mean? And aren't the programs of a washing machine ultimately also symbols for the molded parts of our lives?

«lavomatik» balances between the fabric softener of adulthood and the spin cycle of everyday life. And asks the burning question: what does a washing machine actually feel?

With

Ludmilla Mercier, Jakob Böttcher (concept/composition/text/direction); Trixi Strobel (performance); HYPER DUO: Gilles Grimaitre (keyboard/performance), Julien Mégroz (percussion/performance); Pablo Mena Escudero (set design); Erwin Fonseca Arande (lighting)

Program

Ludmilla Mercier (*1997) & Jakob Böttcher (*1999): «lavomatik» (2025)

Info

Please note: Fog and strobe effects will be used.
The performance is in German, English, and French (with surtitles).

Duration

70 minutes, no break

Prices

CHF 35.-/25.-/15.- (free choice at the box office or in advance)
Free admission applies to persons with residence permit N, F or S. / CHF 5.- students of the Hochschule für Musik FHNW and the Musicology Seminar of the University of Basel / CHF 10.- members Colourkey, KulturLegi and children under 12 years.

Links

→ ludmilla_mercier
→ jakob_boettcher
→ trixistrobel
→ hyper duo
→ grimaitregilles
→ julienmegroz