Luzie Meyer

Statement:

The curators have replaced the previous text on this artwork at the request of the artist.

New Text:

Berlin Piece for Voice and Tap Dance is a 20-minute, six-channel audio piece for voice and tap dance, presented on six speakers in the former Kantine of the Sophiensaele—a space once used for weddings and festivities, and as a meeting place for the German Communist Party, where figures such as Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, and Clara Zetkin delivered speeches.

Drawing inspiration from the heterogeneous traditions of tap dance, a form shaped by multiculturalism, histories of oppression, the entertainment industry, and the syncopated rhythms of the “machine age”; the work reflects on the dialectics of freedom and restraint. At its core is a formally playful poetic text in English and German, employing rhymes, alliterations, homophony, semantic shifts, metaphors, and wordplay, weaving multiple registers of meaning through repetition and sonic patterning.

Developed in response to Berlin’s cultural climate, the site-specific work engages with the political tensions between October 2024 and June 2025: the failure of the German ruling coalition and ensuing elections, the precarious conditions of cultural producers, recent attacks on artistic freedom, the polarized debate over Germany’s stance on the war in the Middle East, the rise of the far-right AfD, and looming cultural funding cuts—all within the global backdrop of environmental crises and resurgent fascism. Invoking the site’s rich history, Meyer’s rhythmic, lyrical composition draws on fragments from conversations, artist union meetings, exhibitions, senate debates, and diverse news sources. Appropriated texts mingle with neologisms and linguistic play, shaped by the artist’s perspective on the historical moment, channeling the emotional charge of this tense atmosphere and revealing the desires, fears, and pressures underlying artistic production under increasingly difficult conditions.