The Oude Kerk celebrates the 50th anniversary edition of the morning concert series Silence with a live performance by the influential composer Charlemagne Palestine during the Sonic Acts Biennial 2024. Palestine plays the 18th-century Vater-Müller organ during this concert. The concert is a collaboration with the jubilant music platform and festival, Sonic Acts.
Biography
Charlemagne Palestine (New York, 1947) is a multidisciplinary artist, composer, and performer. He was part of the avant-garde and underground scene in New York during the 1960s and 1970s. Palestine is associated with the Fluxus art movement and New York minimal music, alongside composers such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Laurie Anderson. He gained significant recognition for his legendary performances and impressive multimedia installations and total artworks.
About Silence (50th edition)
Silence is celebrating its 50th edition. The music series had its premiere six years ago with a series of early-morning concerts around artist Marinus Boezem's installation Into the Air. Since then, every first Friday of the month as the city awakens, musicians and sound artists explore the ancient acoustics of the Oude Kerk. Central to the Silence series is music that fuses acoustic, digital and electronic sounds. Following Sweelinck's walking concerts hundreds of years ago, the audience can relate to the sound while moving.
About Sonic Acts (30 years anniversary)
Founded in 1994 to present new developments in electronic and digital art forms, Sonic Acts has gained prominence with its biennial international festival — an intensive art, theory and technology gathering motivated by changes in the ecological, political, technological and social landscape. Sonic Acts is also a leading platform for international projects, research and the commissioning and co-production of new artworks. Marking 30 years of Sonic Acts, this anniversary edition of the Biennial takes place between 2 February and 24 March 2024, focusing on spectacular, multi-sensory cultural practices that respond to climate emergency, global geopolitics, and the intangible.