Kunsu Shim and Gerhard Stäbler – composers from Korea and Germany – live and work together since a long time, plan events and create performances in which they appear together. The composition auf dem wasser, ein gesicht ("on the water, a face") is the first work that they have been composing together. Starting from the original characteristics of the instrument koto – 13 equal strings, freely movable bridges – they let appear sounds from an unstable ground: in the beginning all strings are divided from the middle. During the performance, the bridges are starting to wander, either mainly to the left or the right edge, or to both edges. In this process, the ground of the sounds does not only move but is changing permanently – like the mirrored image through the water. Nothing remains constant, not even the playing position, which is either moving from the middle to the left or right or demands that both arms spread out to the edges of the koto and play there simultaneously.

Gerhard Stäbler