participatory project
2025
Clouds, Winds and Voices is a part of "Oemoemenoe", an ongoing local-nomadic programme series of Vleeshal (NL)
2025
Clouds, Winds and Voices is a part of "Oemoemenoe", an ongoing local-nomadic programme series of Vleeshal (NL)
Clouds, Winds and Voices was presented in the reading room of the Zeeuws Archief. This lecture performance marked the outcome of an eight-part workshop series led by artist Maria Klaassen-Andrianova, initiated by Vleeshal in partnership with participants of the social art project Pennywafelhuis and the Toonbeeld choir.
Throughout the workshop period, Klaassen-Andrianova and participants explored artistic interpretations of (forced) migration histories and the notion of home, with a particular focus on lullabies. These songs— intimate cross-generational vessels of language, culture and care — have been documented and reimagined in new choral arrangements developed by the Toonbeeld choir.
The final presentation included spoken word (by Klaassen-Andrianova), poetry recitals and live choral works, forming a multilingual lecture-performance in which a Cloud takes central stage. As a figure constantly displaced by winds, the Cloud shares what it has witnessed drifting across guarded borders, sand and seas, peaceful lands and war zones, loss and hope.
Text by Jim van Geel
It was important for me to have the world map in the workshop space. We were drawing our travel routes on it and (unexpectedly) it became a spot where the most sincere dialogues took place.
I asked participants whether they still remember lullabies their parents used to sing to them and whether they pass those lullabies to their kids? I asked them to sing a lullaby for me.
Photos of the lecture-performance are made by Anda Van Riet