This event is wheelchair accessible.
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Two years and one day after their last concert at the Kaserne Basel, Les Reines Prochaines are returning—and celebrating their premiere at the Reithalle!
Memory Foam is a polyphonic musical performance by Les Reines Prochaines & Friends that explores memory and its possible narratives as a collective and political practice.
The setting for the event is an imaginary spa resort. So welcome to the Kurhaus Zuversicht, where an illustrious atmosphere, invigorating treatments, and a breath of fresh air await you. It is a kind of detox—a farewell to escapism, to justified fears and reservations. Here, privacy may be set aside for a moment so that new encounters can emerge and old tensions can be resolved.
The starting point is the question of how the future can even be conceived of under the conditions of current crises.
Key points of reference include Ursula K. Le Guin’s “Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” as well as the work of Feel Tank Chicago, which focuses on the neighborhood, the emotional, the everyday, and the interpersonal. In group sessions, we incorporate your personal experiences and connect them to the collective activity. Enjoy the loss of control and gasping for breath—and have some fun. Remembering becomes a shared practice: worries are left at the coat check, repressed memories are fished out like fruit from a punch bowl, and frozen traumas are transformed into sorbet.. We gel and liquefy, thaw, and store away in bags and chests. Coagulated sadness is linked to the spirits that summoned it, making new ways of storytelling possible.
There is a diversity of life paths, stories, and achievements that we can draw upon at any time, and we see—despite all the global problems and controversies—that there is still room in the future.
Table talks on February 12, starting at 7:15 p.m.
Credits
Concept and Direction, Writers, Production, Set Design, Costumes, Video, Props, External Eye:
Fränzi Madörin, Sus Zwick, Muda Mathis, Chris Regn, Chris Hunter, Sibylle Hauert, Sibylle Aeberli, Doro Schürch, Lukas Acton, David Kerman, Martina Gmür
External Consultant:
Marcel Schwald & Michèle Fuchs
Sound:
Susanne Affolter
Lighting:
Ursula Degen
Biography
In 1987 as Les Reines des Couteaux (the queens of the knives), Muda Mathis, Teresa Alonso and Regina Florida Schmid showed their first performance in a underground space in Basel. It was all about political statements, rebellion against the bourgeois society and, last but not least, about feminist aesthetics and action. All of the founders are visual artists, and created music by chopping vegetables for a soup, singing and some synthesizer sounds. One year later they continued as Les Reines Prochaines, creating music and multimedia-performances with new members associated with the group: Fränzi Madörin and Pipilotti Rist. Since then Les Reines Prochaines are on tour with changing group members, but held by a strong core. The present line-up is: Michèle Fuchs, Fränzi Madörin, Muda Mathis and Sus Zwick. Almost all of them learned to play their instruments just by joining the group. „The use of music as a medium is just as important to us as the performance itself and the visual environment. This mixture gives us the freedom to cross cultural borders and categories of the various arts“. Over the years, creating shows and music have developed in their own personal style – sometimes they would call it professional dilettantism.
Each band member writes her own songs about personal musical worlds, everyday images, memories and fantasies. They all sing, and they all take turns providing accompaniment on the trumpet, saxophone, euphonium, accordion, guitar, bass, drums, strings and synthesizer. The instruments regularly change hands between the different band members, though some tend to be played regularly by the same one.
Les Reines Prochaines, the 4-woman combo that has skilfully made its mark in the music scene, is the epitome of creativity and is rich in imagination. The band’s varied performances are widely famous. They view themselves as multimedia musicians who transport their colorful prose via channels other than music. Fränzi Madörin and Muda Mathis, who have been with the band since ist formation, as well as Sus Zwick and Michèle Fuchs who joined later, make democratic music. For example, they alternate accompaniment and solo performances in rapid succession. The Queens take turns in the spotlight, they swap instruments, dance, sing, celebrate – every performance is a party! Even though the laughter sometimes gets caught in your throat, Les Reines Prochaines have a keen perception of the overall picture. They don’t mince their words, yet these words are poetry and their use of language is always affectionate.
Table Talks
Together with Art of Intervention, we're bringing the table talks back to Kaserne Basel! Once a month, we meet at the bar at 7:15 p.m. to get in the mood for the upcoming theater or dance evening in a relaxed atmosphere.
In dialogue with invited guests, we take a queer-feminist look at an aspect of the respective production. And after the performance, we open the space again for a brief exchange: sharing impressions, developing thoughts, shifting perspectives.
Come by, be inspired, and join the discussion!
Content Notes
Currently, there are no specific notes on content that we or the artists would like to share with the audience. If you have any specific questions about content notes, the venue representative will be available on the evening of the performance.