Performance for five singers presented at the opening of the exhibition “Thomas Schmit Retrosektive” at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k) in 2021.

The idea of „Five Songs, One End” (2021) by Hajnal Németh is based on a brief instruction forming the score of Tomas Schmit’s piece “Two Compositions to Justify a Performance” (1964). The adaptation, however, departs significantly from the original concept. The original instruction reads as follows: At the beginning of a performance announce: „END!”, and at the end: „NOW IT STARTS AGAIN!” In Németh’s interpretation, the ending is an improvisatory process filling the duration of the performance, in which five singers repeat the last line of five songs continuously and in different variations.

Hajnal Németh, „Five Songs, One End”, 2021
Performance for five singers, approx. 15 min
Based on Tomas Schmit, “Two Compositions to Justify a Performance” (#25), 1964
Performed by: Tobias Christl, Júlia Koffler, Erik Leuthäuser, Fama M’Boup and Dora Osterloh

Photo by n.b.k. / Krisztina Turna