¿GRENZENLOS? is an organization for new and collaborative music, with branches in New York, Hamburg and Melbourne. With eighteen members and production staff hailing from nine different countries, the organization’s mission is to use “contemporary†or “new†music to act as a platform for proactive intercultural dialogue through collaboration. ¿GRENZENLOS? means ‘limitless’ or ‘borderless’ in German; the two question marks in the name signal that innovative music should always question these borders and limits.
Although ¿GRENZENLOS? has already produced events in Austria, Australia and the USA, with upcoming projects in India and China, the organization believes in quality over quantity. So many intercultural music projects fail, or rarely go beyond the area of “fusion,†because they were done in haste with a presentation or recording in mind. Projects that ¿GRENZENLOS? undertakes are conceived over a long-term timeframe, considering “process†as important, if not more important, than “productâ€.
¿GRENZENLOS? believes in small-scale, long-term and project-based forms of collaborative music making. It explores ways to break down barriers between limiting notions of “west†and “east,†and “classical music†and “world music,†searching for (what Rajesh Mehta describes as) “relationships between traditions that harness the collective energies of each without blurring the rich and complex individual differences†(Innovative Music Meetings 2000). ¿GRENZENLOS? believes in building new musical languages, the essence of all good music making.
The organization seeks to strengthen ties with institutions, individuals and networks in particularly non-Western countries. Eventually, the organization plans to relocate to a centre in Asia, working on a select number of intense long-term projects. It also aims to build bridges between composed and improvised music, instrumental and electronic music, facets of “digital†culture, and to explore issues related to globalisation and identity in the modern Internet age of mass communication.
¿GRENZENLOS? is a producer and partner in various collaborative activities. It presents and promotes concerts, lectures and workshops in collaboration with festivals, arts centers and universities. The organization will also soon be sponsoring exchange programs between regions for arts professionals. Members of ¿GRENZENLOS? also act as advisors to international arts organizations and ensembles, and as facilitators of collaborative projects with an intercultural focus. Spektral Records, based in Germany, is the organization’s main label, and a commissioning fund for new works is being established through the ABAF (based in Sydney, Australia) as well as the World-Wide Concurrent Premieres and Commissioning Fund, Inc. (Boston). The organization will be hosting its first festival and residency together in Tasmania, Australia, in 2009.
¿GRENZENLOS? is currently undertaking some interesting collaborations. In 2007 members of the organization performed at the Fine Hall at Princeton University, The Tank in New York City, Meran Palace in Austria and at the University of Adelaide in Australia. For more information please refer to myspace blogs and upcoming presentations.
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WATCH SAMSON YOUNG'S 'ROXY. NEW YORK' LIVE FROM PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, IN THIS 1-MINUTE TRAILER!
THE SECOND VIDEO IS OF ¿GRENZENLOS? PERCUSSIONIST EUGENE UGHETTI IN JAPAN, A SHORT VISUAL DOCUMENTARY OF THE RECENT APHIDS PERFORMANCE IN MATSUE...(www.aphids.net).
THE THIRD VIDEO IN THIS SERIES IS BY GRENZENLOS TROMBONIST DANIEL PLOEGER- AN INSTALLATION HE RECENTLY PRESENTED IN BERLIN, ENTITLED 'DRILL'. "as soon as you left I was hungry" (Joseph Beuys)
CHECK THEM OUT!
