As an improvising artist, I loved the collective, process-oriented, global concept of documenta fifteen. The manifold inspirations manifest here in “Expanding Spaces” (Ursel Schlicht)
Ursel Schlicht and Hans Tammen have collaborated on various projects since the late 1980s. They began Expanding Spaces commenting live on photos from documenta fifteen by Tanja Kurzenknabe, by creating sounds on piano with live sound processing. Documenta is the leading avant-art exhibition worldwide, lasting for 100 days every 5 years. The 2022 edition presented collectives especially from the global South, and the city of Kassel became a vibrant hub of several thousand artists present.
Thursday, October 1st at Mise-en_Place is the first and only show in the US to present Expanding Spaces, produced as a one-evening festival with stellar ensembles/collaborators.
6:00 pm sharp: Ximena Bedoya, Hans Tammen & Shahzad Ismaily’s music is continuously shifting, with different layers floating into the foreground while others disappear.
6:45pm: The music of pianist Carol Liebowitz and alto saxophonist Nick Lyons possesses a natural and beautiful sound and incorporates wide ranges of repertoire, texture, dynamics, mood, rhythm, and form.
https://www.carolliebowitz.
7:45pm: Ursel Schlicht & Hans Tammen augment images from Tanja Kurzenknabe’s photo series from Haitian Collective Atis Rezistans, and from Indonesian artist Agus PMTOH, using electronically processed sounds from the piano in realtime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
8:30pm: Ursel Schlicht, Adam Lane & Vijay Anderson started this new trio in 2026. Their music encompasses a wide range from nuanced pianissimo to strong powerful improvised soundscapes.
We would like to thank a German sponsor from Kulturbunker Kassel helping to produce both the evening-length premiere in Kassel and this concert in New York. The Kulturbunker, originally used as a bunker during WWII by the Reichsbahn (the train system under the Nazi regime), is today an independent cultural space hosting numerous professional musicians and organizations. Kassel had been extensively destroyed in 1944. The Vikonauten e.V. offer tours underground to show and educate about the history of this unusual cultural monument. https://kulturbunker-kassel.