UNLIKELY ALIENS

ELEVATE FESTIVAL OPENING

Hosted by Navaridas & Deutinger with Manuel Riegler, Irina Nalis, Bernhard Steirer, Elke Kahr, Judith Schwentner, Günter Riegler, Sibylle Berg, Yegor Zabelov and Roland Oreski

Could the forging of unlikely alliances become the oblique strategy and secret sauce for the production of music, art, and political discourse? Helene Fischer & Yung Hurn? Anselm Kiefer & Jakob Lena Knebl? Byung-Chul Han & Michel Houellebecq? For the opening of this year’s edition, Elevate forges an alliance with the unlikely yet likeable hosts Marta Navaridas & Alex Deutinger, who playfully guide the audience and invited guests through the evening. As Unlikely Aliens, masked with analogue face filters and communicating via vocal transformers, they whimsically move to the intricate rhythms of sound wizard Manuel Riegler. Supported by unique visual artist Annemarie Arzberger, who translates digital aesthetics back into an analogue haptic environment, the Unlikely Aliens create a space of utopia, where we can hopefully all feel a little more welcome – despite our more or less alien idiosyncrasies.

MARCH 1, 2023, Elevate Festival, Orpheum Graz

Concept, Direction and  Performance Alex Deutinger, Marta Navaridas Electronic Live Music, Sound Design Manuel Riegler Costume Design Annemarie Arzberger Production Management, Organisation Sophie Schmeiser/mollusca productions Video Henx Photos Clara Wildberger

A production by Performanceinitiative 22 in cooperation with Elevate Festival – Music, Art and Political Discourse Supported by The City of Graz, the Province of Styria, Studio 8 Gries.