19
A positively incomplete, commented index of ten years of reiheM
Hanna Bächer
Chris Newman, Chris Petit, Christian Jendreiko, Christiane Veltman, Christina Kubisch, Christina Taczyk, Christine Chapman, Christof Kurzmann, Christoph Fink, Christoph Irmer, Club Moral, Compound Eye, Cornelius Cardew, Costis Zouliatis, crys cole, Cyrille Henry, Dag Rosenqvist, Daniel Maszkowicz, Daniel Neves, Daniel Vlèek, David Behrman, David Cunningham, David Grubbs. Musician and musicologist David Grubbs performed at reiheM in October 2016, at Cologne’s Loft. He opened the night with a reading from his book Records Ruin The Landscapes: John Cage, the Sixties, and Sound Recording, in which he discusses the relationship between „free“ musical styles and recordings. Many years before, in 1999, had been invited to play the White Noise Bar at another Cologne venue, Studio 672. In retrospect, the White Noise Bar and its quasi predecessor, Selten Gehörte Musik at „L“ (and, later, Liquid Sky), look like testing grounds for reiheM’s activities. One of the programmers of both series is the Cologne record dealer, label owner and promoter Frank Dommert. David Moufang, David Toop, David Tudor, Dieb13, Dinah Bird, Dirk Specht, DJ Sprinkles, DJ Zipo. DJ Zipo will perform as a kind of unofficial, lowkey Guest of Honour at the one-day festival reiheM hosts on the occasion of its tenth anniversary. Guest of Honour, because the original group of programmers consisted of him, usually
known as Till Kniola, hans w. koch, Sven Hahne and Frank Dommert. Over time, Kniola and Hahne got replaced by Dirk Specht and Volker Zander as full-time curators, with support by so-called project managers for single concerts, such as Georg Dietzler. There’s no mention of individual curators in any of the announcements, deliberately so, only the respective audience address before each concert offers clues. To work and act exclusively as a group is regarded as crucial by its creators. reiheM doesn’t employ a curational strategy which mirrors the ideas of just one person, but a team making decisions together and acting as a monitoring authority towards each single idea. As a side-effect, this modus operandi limits the danger of merely creating another genre by avoiding to fit into one. „Our bulkheads remain open“, says Volker Zander. Dr. Borg, e-mex ensemble, Echo Ho, Edvard Graham Lewis, Eiko Ishibashi, Éliane Radigue, Elisabeth Coudoux, Emeka Ogboh, Emma Souharce, Emmanuel Reveneau, Ensemble Garage, Ensemble TRA I TEMPI, Eric Cordier, Erik Enockson, Ernie Brooks, Eva Boesch, Eva Zöllner, evala, Evelin Degen, EVOL, Ewelina Chiu, Fabio Carboni, Felicia Meric, Flo Kaufmann, Florian Hecker, Florian Kindlinger, Florian Zwissler, Frank Bretschneider, Frank Dommert, Frank Gratkowski, Frank Riedel, Frank Schulte, Franz Hautzinger, Franzis-
From Advanced to Z
8GG, Alain Pire, Albert Ayler, Alessandra Novaga, Alfred Hitchcock, Alvin Lucier, Amy Cimini, Amy X Neuburg, Andreas Willers, Anla Courtis, Anne Krickeberg, Annegret Mayer-Lindenberg, Antez, Anthony Moore. The piece Anthony Moore released on reiheM’s compilation Noise of Cologne 2 is called „Trans Cologne Tramway“. The title could be read as a motto for reiheM – in the way the Cologne series points out axes where there were previously none to be seen. While the curation avoids to claim some grand concept, it fills the gaps between other institutions, older as well as very recent ones, with more distinct (or homogenous) profiles. From here, connections can be drawn to other scenes, to artists of all genres pushing the respective limits. Not only in a regional context: Among many pother stints in bands, Anthony Moore played with Henry Cow, who founded the label Recommended Records with Chris Cutler, from which the RecRec mailorder catalogue emerged. It offered, not unlike this list of artists who played reiheM in the past ten years, and entry point for a further quest into this kind of music. A similar, pre-digital access was provided by record stores such as Gelbe Musik in Berlin and, of course, books, exhibitions and radio broadcasts. Anthony Moore played reiheM in November 2015 with his Missing Present
Band. Anthony Pateras, Anton Lukoszevieze, Antonio de Cabezon, Anzu Suhara, Arnold Dreyblatt, Art Pratten, Arthur Russell, AsaChang, Astor, Atom tm, Aya Onishi, ba:zel, Baleine 3000, Bell Field, Bellows, Benjamin Thigpen, Bernd Schurer, Bernhard Fograscher, Bernhard Wöstheinrich, Beth Griffith, Bettina Wenzel, Biblioteq Mdulair, Biliana Voutchkova, Bill Dietz, Bill Exley, Bill Orcutt, Bill Ruyle, Billy Bao, Boris Hegenbart, Brigitta Muntendorf, Britton Powell, Burkart Zeller, Byungjun Kwon, Camilla Hoitenga, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Carlos Tarcha, Carter Williams, Cecil Taylor. The documentary Cecil Taylor in Paris was screened on one of the first evenings of reiheM, in August 2009, on the roof terrace of Museum Ludwig. Luc Ferrari and Gérard Patris filmed Taylor in 1968 for their series Les Grandes Répétitions („The Big Rehearsals“), in which the rehearsal of a piece becomes the center of a story about music. The second film of this series to be screened at reiheM documents works on Karlheinz Stockhausen’s piece Momente. There’s a stark contrast between the elements of free improvisation brought into the filmed rehearsal by Taylor, enhanced by him taking part in the performance himself, and Stockhausen’s handling of his composition, which he „only“ conducts. These polar approaches outline a particular area of tension, one of many to be getting explored by reiheM. Charlemagne Palestine, chdh, Chico Mello, Chris Mann,
