SUNKISSED

PRESS RELEASE

Act 2: Glass is an excerpt of the sonic landscape of Sunkiss, a four-hour performance piece directed by Mylan Hoezen and composed by Bergur Anderson, presented at de Appel Amsterdam in 2021. The performance revolved around different expressions of slowness, conceived in response to a world which, after a brief moment of pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, resumed moving forward at an accelerated pace. In four sequences, performers Emirhakin, Negiste Yesside Johnson, Ratri Notosudirdjo, and Mylan Hoezen endure through slow motions—fully immersed in the present moment. Interacting with each other through vocal sounds and with objects made of glass, plaster, and latex, their bodies slowly shift in and out of synchronicity with their environment. This endurance gives rise to an emergent choreography that could only be grasped if the witness also endured.

Listening to the registration I sense a gentle pull in the pit of my stomach—an ethereal sensation of weightlessness akin to that experience in the moment of a sudden descent. This deeply visceral feeling is evoked by the use of a Shepard Tone—a superimposition of sine waves placed within one-octave distance. The hypnotic sound creates the auditory illusion of an endlessly upward spiralling scale; suspense spiralling into insatiable anticipation. The score seeks to create the experience of being in proximity to the sun. This proximity can feel soothing one moment but turn hazardous the next. Sunkissed embodies this duality of the sun, where the sun's radiant energy sustains life's flourishing while also being capable of devastating destruction. To be kissed by the sun signifies both blessing and curse, illuminating the fragile balance between vitality and peril that constitute life on earth.

Compared to the short lifetime of humans, the sun’s endurance over billions of years makes it seem to be eternal, and yet, it is finite, destined to exhaust its nuclear fuel and fade into cosmic obscurity. Throughout time, humans have worshipped this celestial demiurge under many names—Utu, Helios, or Ra—simultaneously terrified by it and seeking to harness its power. Amidst late capitalism’s pursuit to turn the sun into a resource of infinite energy, veiling the ethical abyss opened by the ruthless extraction of labour, we are faced with the fact that such infinity is an illusion. The nature of illusions, however, is not simply to deceive. Within the auditory illusion offered by Sunkiss also lies a revelation—a shift in perception in what is taken for granted. A shift that allows one to see the world anew and recognise that while nothing lasts forever, hope lies within the endurance of life despite the fatal destiny of the universe.

PURCHASE

Tracklist CD
1: Act 2 - Glass

Tracklist Digital
1: Act 1: Rest
2: Act 2: Glass
3: Act 3: Water
4: Act 4: Movement

CREDITS

PERFORMERS
Emirhakin, Negiste Yesside Johnson, Ratri Notosudirdjo, Mylan Hoezen

sound design
Bergur Anderson

documentation
Nicola Baratto

lighting coordination
Jeisson Drenth

stage DESIGN
Arthur Jules, Mylan Hoezen

graphic design
Emirhakin

text
Lijuan Klassen

location
de Appel

recording
Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee

support
Mondriaan Fonds