In the sound performance Music Requisites, the third act of Richard Wagner’s opera “Die Feen” resounds from the speakers of parked cars. The streets are dark. As the music piece evolves, it travels from one car to the next. Each of these passages is accompanied by the car’s interior light illuminating. Eight parked cars are activated in this manner, leaving a long line of light and sound by the end of the performance.
The cars—as typical parts of everyday life, standing for movement, travel and relocation—are brought to life through the sounds of Richard Wagner’s music. The arias, duets and choral passages take us on an imaginary journey in a world of kings, fairies and magic. King Arindal is in love with the beautiful fairy Ada. In order to marry her, he has to accept one condition: for eight years, he is forbidden from asking her name and origin. Shortly before the eight years are up, he fails to keep his word and loses her. Ada is immediately turned into stone. It is only after endless efforts, which lead him to the kingdom of the underworld, that King Arindal is finally able to break the spell and free his love, thanks to the help of the magician Groma. As a reward for his fidelity, he is given Ada’s most precious quality: immortality. From then on, they are united forever.
With their motors, gasoline pipes and no less with their industrial design, cars mirror the scientific achievements, technological developments, world economies, conflicts and policies of three centuries of human history. This is precisely the time frame when the Western world underwent its most rational era. In Music Requisites, the cars take on the role of amplifiers and together with the accompanying light, they intertwine legends and the mystical world with the modern processes that guide life. They become platforms for telling a fantastical story, accompanied by the emotions that are evoked through the Wagnerian music and the Symbolism of the late 19th century. The opera passages are filled with powerful musical drama, which affects the listener`s psychology while unwillingly denouncing modern life.