WITH SUCCESS VERSTOCKT JUXTAPOSES COURTLY LOVE WITH VIRTUAL AND PORNOGRAPHIC LOVE IN HRZSCHMRZ. WITH A LOT OF IRONY THE COMPOSER CRITICIZES TODAY’S ‘SHARING CIVILIZATION’ WHERE EVERYTHING, INCLUDING THE MOST INTIMATE THINGS, IS SHARED WITH ‘FRIENDS’. ALTHOUGH WE ‘SHARE’ EVERYTHING, VERSTOCKT MANAGED TO MAKE US AWAREOF THE PARADOXICAL LONELINESS IN OUR SOCIAL SOCIETY.”
YARRID DHOOGHE
In HRZSCHMRZ Serge Verstockt and ChampdAction focus on love and ask questions about the ever-advancing digital world that engulfs us in our daily reality.
Today we live largely in a virtual world. We ‘share’ our most intimate things through social media such as Facebook – births, happiness and misfortune – so that our ‘virtual’ friends can enjoy it. For certain groups, life on the Internet goes much further. The Hikikomori, an ever-growing group of Japanese gamers, refuse to leave their room and fulfill all their needs via the internet: from 3D sex games that fuel the libido to the fervent desire to marry avatars. Is this virtual love a modern version of medieval courtly love? Are the Hikikomori the modern knights of our time? Space and time become one in the virtual world. Everything and everyone is constantly available: 24 hours a day, glued to our laptop, tablet, smartphone, connected in solitude. HRZSCHMRZ balances between both worlds: in addition to the virtual action heroes, internet angels and avatars, there are flesh-and-blood musicians with different musical backgrounds – ‘troubadour’ Guido Belcanto shares the stage with classical, free jazz and pop musicians who sing about love through the music of Perotinus about Buddy Holly to Belgian New Beat.
CREDITS
- Concept, music, visuals: Serge Verstockt
- dramaturgy: Annemarie Peeters
- technical coördinator: Jean-Pierre Deschepper
- elektronics: ChampdAction/Studio
- sound: Istvan Leel-Össy, Dominik Boiy, Christophe Van Craenenbroeck
- live electronics, sound design, keyboards: Benjamin Van Esser
- Video/avatars: Vincent Jacobs
