DANCE BREAK

Hajnal Németh, „Dance Break”, 2025, sonic, environmental and functional intervention at Café Keese, Berlin
Photo by Zsófia Láposi

A sonic, environmental and functional intervention at Café Keese, Berlin, 2025.

In her site-specific project entitled “DANCE BREAK,” Hajnal Németh transformed the function and atmosphere of a cult Berlin dance bar, which has been operating since 1966, with minimal yet significant interventions. Instead of dance music, the speakers were broadcasting field recordings, movement on the dance floor was replaced by motionlessness, and the environment designed for active entertainment this time paradoxically encouraged a participatory, passive activity, a kind of „strike against action”.

The audio piece “German Dawn”, which filled the bar space with continuous playback, is a collection of field recordings made at various locations in Germany, capturing the sunrise through sound. The optical phenomenon’s observation site is usually filled with various sounds and noises, and now the accompanying soundscape was the focus of attention. The played recordings were complemented by short live interventions, solo instrumental and spoken word pieces, while performers and visitors alike continuously idled and hung around in various ways.

Eastern boredom
Western silence
Western sunset
Eastern dusk

Eastern stranger
Eastern tourist
Western suntanned
Western just tanned

Eastern alcohol
Western free
Western loss of
Eastern consciousness

(Detail from the 80-line poem “Eastern Dusk” by Hajnal Németh)

Hajnal Németh, „Dance Break”, 2025, sonic, environmental and functional intervention at Café Keese, Berlin
Photos by Zsófia Lápos

Hajnal Németh, „DANCE BREAK” 2025
Sonic, environmental and functional intervention
Featuring the field recording “German Dawn” (2025) and the poem “Eastern Dusk” (2025)
Live solo parts: Bryan Eubanks (saxophone and self-made instruments)
Contributors with words and inaction: János Fodor, Júlia Koffler, Zsófia Láposi, Anna Mándoki, Friede Merz, Albert Orgon, Katarina Sevic, and many others

Café Keese Berlin
September 11, 2025, 9 pm – 2 am

The project was carried out as part of the “Krull Ausstellung 2025”, curated by Leonie Herweg, commissioned by the Hans und Charlotte Krull Stiftung.
Special thanks to Annette Wiegand for her help in the realisation.