Katinka Kleijn + Lia Kohl
Katinka Kleijn and Lia Kohl’s shared practice explores vulnerability and resilience through the cello as an object, a body, and a sound-making tool. Both cellists, composers, and sound artists, they have amassed a collection of broken cellos in order to explore unusual, counterintuitive, and even iconoclastic ways of working with them. As artists who are not only technicians of the cello but its companions and collaborators, their exploration is deeply personal, where the body of the cello is a corollary to their own. As such a site of empathy, the cello allows for unique experimentation with the limits of both tenderness and violence.
Augmented Geology (2022)
Augmented Geology is a body of work created while in residence in Joshua Tree, California. Drawing inspiration from the harsh and beautiful landscape, the duo experimented with rock, rain, sand, fire, and wide open space, testing and capturing their effects on the fragile cellos. Made in a landscape uniquely formed by time, erosion, and cataclysmic changes, the work is rooted in both patience and play.
Water on the Bridge (2019)
An unlikely pairing -- cellos and water -- allows for a surreal and playful exploration of care, struggle and letting go. Presented by Night out in the Parks, Water on the Bridge is a site specific performance with 30 broken cellos, incorporating elements of theatre, movement, and improvisation, as well as a rich sonic landscape drawn from both water and cellos.
Kohl and Kleijn play, float and move around the cellos accompanied by live electronics and cello loops. Utilizing the utilitarian nature of the space, the piece draws on movement vocabulary from swimming instruction and water sports, the sounds of the pool in action, and the cavernous sonic experience of the historic Eckhart Park Pool.
