Colin Self

[DE/US]

Photo by Jonathan Grassi.

Following the release of new record Siblings on RVNG, Colin Self will perform live at HAU with an 8-person choir and string ensemble. Siblings is Self’s second record, and marks the final chapter of his speculative sci-fi operetta series, Elation

The series is a six-part trans-feminist opera which traces queer trajectories that depart from global uncertainty and doom-obsessed cultural trends. It spans sculpture, video, and performance. Part five, entitled The Fool, was co-written with Whitney Biennial-featured artist Raul Nieves, and also featured vocalist Alexandra Drewchin (Eartheater) and queer theorist/artist Mehron Abdollmohammadi. 

Inspired by the work of seminal feminist theorist Donna Haraway, Siblings is the final chapter of Elation. It consists of “ecstatic voices and sound,” which “knot to form new ideals of kinship,” and asks how we can collectively persist amidst environmental destruction. 

Self is a Berlin-based artist and composer who creates music, performances, and environments. He spent his formative years attending Riot Grrrl shows in Oregon, which preceded his Do-It-Together, rather than DIY, approach. Self’s work “expand[s] consciousness” and “troubl[es] binaries and boundaries of perception and communication.”

He has been a part of a DIS Magazine boy band, drag super-ensemble Chez Deep, and Holly Herndon’s touring A/V Trio. Self is also known for running Xhoir, a non-utilitarian vocal workshop for group singing and listening. 

As If We Were Kin

HAU1, Wed 30.01.2019, 19:00

Maria W Horn, Colin Self