Guest Dialogue #10

One should talk about “difficult pieces”.

As a child and teenager, Gerd F. (71) loved acting and singing. When he came to Munich several decades ago, he picked up his passion for artistic and performing forms of expression again and finally dared to do it dance and musical theatre approach. Two aspects in particular inspired him: On the one hand, KulturRaum, where Gerd F. has been a guest for about seven years and has been part of the exploration team for around three years. And on the other hand, his regular accompaniment at cultural events, which has now even aroused his interest in classical music - although Gerd F. actually sees himself musically at home somewhere between pop, blues and jazz music.

Its positive "Aha experience" not so long ago, Gerd F. had a well-attended event in the Muffathalle. Various political accents were cleverly woven into the piece presented there, especially around the themes of flight and migration. Despite the high content demands of the production, the event was well attended - possibly an indication that "difficult pieces", as Gerd F. calls them, are valued and demanded by the audience. In any case, Gerd F. likes to confront it: "It's important to me that I keep seeing things I've never seen before and that my listening habits are turned inside out so that I don't look at the clock in between." In many cases, the pensioner has found cross-genre work and plays in different languages ​​and dialects to be very enriching.

That was particularly memorable for Gerd F Dance theater piece "Bodytalk" in the Schwere Reiter. On the one hand, it corresponded to his wish to be able to perceive new things and to get an emotional and intellectual broadening of his horizons, but he also perceived this experience as unpleasant. The performance impressively addressed the physical condition of man in the course of his life. At times, the artists handled food in an unsavory way, which impressively visualized the fringes of human existence. From Gerd F.'s point of view, the identification potential of what was shown was deliberately taken to the extreme for the audience, which left a somewhat uneasy atmosphere in the room at the end.

Gerd F. has found that his cultural experiences often have a certain post processing require: "When I've seen something, I move it within myself and then a lot of things become clear to me. Then I'll deal with it again intensively and I'm not just a consumer." On the one hand, Gerd F. documents this reflection for himself in personal reviews; He also maintains a lively exchange with his companion at the respective event or with acquaintances who are open to culture. Irrespective of the form, Gerd F. is important: talking a lot about what is perceived - and above all: asking questions.

Text: Antonia Schwingen