Laibach with Mina Špiler and guests present their upcoming album Wir sind das Volk – in a theatrical musical based on the motifs and texts of German playwright Heiner Müller.
At Kino Šiška, Laibach and guests (Mina Špiler, Katarina Stegnar, Cveto Kobal, Sašo Vollmaier, Vier Personen Quartet, The Stroj and his holiness Peter Mlakar) will prepare over an hour of patriotism. German patriotism. And yet patriotism is accompanied by a trance; it is trans-national, trans-parent, trans-formational. Laibach are therefore offering over an hour of fresh, current and balanced – German-Slovenian – patriotic pleasure. Open to all: Leninists, Maoists, cyclists, yellowjackets, environmentalists, all of those who, “when they hear the word ‘nation’, they grab for their weapons!”
“In 1984, we prepared music for Heiner Müller’s play Quartet, which was directed by Eduard Miler and staged at the Slovenian National Theater in Ljubljana. In February 1985, we met Heiner Müller by chance in Berlin, and it turned out that he knew Laibach and at the time also suggested collaborating on one of his upcoming theatre performances. Unfortunately, this did not happen, but Heiner Müller later did use some of our music in one of his theatrical productions. In 2019, we received an invitation from Anja Quickert, head of the International Heiner Müller Gesellschaft, who suggested collaborating on the play Wir sind das Volk, based on texts by Heiner Müller. The premiere of this project took place at the HAU Theater (Hebbel am Ufer) in Berlin on February 8, 2020. “
Laibach
“As soon as the word ‘Volk’ (nation, people) appears, I become suspicious,” explained Heiner Müller in 1990. “This is not my nation. I understood very well why Brecht always insisted on the word ‘population, people’ instead of ‘nation’. Of course, such a slogan, ‘We are a people’, is useless, it doesn’t work at all.”The rallies that chanted “We are a nation” and established themselves as a political entity in 1989, at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, did not sound unjustified at the time. Since then, the term “Volk/nation” has undergone profound political changes – not only in Germany, but in Europe, the United States and the world. The ethnic potential of the “nation” was revealed again, making it an instrument of nationalist and racist exclusion. In a kind of global regression, populists (right-wing, but also left-wing) united in a phantasm of ethnic, cultural or religious homogeneity.
The project Wir sind das Volk – ein Musical aus Deutschland finally brings together what should have happened a long time ago: Laibach and the German playwright and poet Heiner Müller together. The myth of the nation cannot be buried as long as ghosts undermine its foundation. “Dialogue with the dead must not be interrupted until it is revealed which part of the future was buried with them.” Welcome to the abyss of the nation!
Anja Quickert
Tickets on sale online and at Eventim outlets. Tickets can be purchased with BON21 (“tourist vouchers”), more information (Slovene only) available here.
BON21
When buying a ticket with the BON21 voucher or buying ticket Laibach: Wir sind das Volk – seating + Laibach poster, you are entitled to a free Wir sind das Volk poster (B1 size) with the collective signature and seal of Laibach as well as a seating in the venue. You can pick up your copy on the day of the event at the sales point/stand, no later than 20 minutes after the conclusion of the event.
COVID POLICY
When entering the venue during public cultural events, applicable public health regulations must be observed, including presenting required proof of recovery, vaccination or negative test result. As proof of compliance with the requirement, an EU digital COVID Certificate in digital or paper form, equipped with a QR code (text messages are not valid), may be submitted, or another certificate or proof in accordance with regulations, which the competent person shall verify by inspecting the submitted certificate or proof.
Organisation: Kino Šiška and Association for Retroavantgard.
