ABOUT BLANK Collective
Vergebung – Forgiveness

In an interdisciplinary research project, the four artists Amit Abend, Thomas Bewernick, Jule Rottluff and Benjamin Rottluff explore the concept of forgiveness.

Conflicts in various forms and guises have always been part of our lives. Sometimes we are angry about something that has happened, sometimes we blame others or ourselves. And sometimes those in power decide that war is inevitable. Just like a conflict, forgiveness can also take place on an interpersonal, interpersonal and social level. But to what extent is forgiveness suitable for resolving conflicts? What does it even take to be able to forgive? Are there any historical models or models from other cultures for a form of forgiveness that could be transferred and applied in the modern age?

Assuming that dance and music have an equal effect on people and help to channel feelings and moods, we would like to complement the more theoretical research with an artistic exploration of the effects of specific techniques. We assume that forgiveness requires an inner willingness to open up and empathise. Movement and sound could be used here to guide people towards a greater willingness to forgive.

Amit Abend

is a contemporary dancer from Israel based in Dresden. She studied dance at the Jerusalem High School Academy for Music and Dance and graduated with special honours. Since 2014 she has been working as a dancer for various choreographers and companies, including Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company 2, Ephemera Dance Company, Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater Görlitz-Zittau, Yaara Dolev and Svea Schneider. As a choreographer, Amit has worked with the renowned artist Sandro Kopp on several artworks that have been shown at Galerie Ebensperger in Berlin and Graz, the Mannheimer Kunstverein and the Milford Galleries in New Zealand. Amit is currently performing at the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater Görlitz-Zittau and is also the founder and host of her podcast "Inside Contemporary Dance".
www.amitabend.com

Thomas Bewernick,

Musician and songwriter, travelled through Europe and the West Coast of the United States as a street musician in 2013 and 2014. After appearing mainly as a guitarist in various bands up to that point, he began writing his own songs. In 2015 and 2016, Thomas released his first two EPs: "Midnight Session" and "Give It Up Now". In 2018, Thomas released an album under the name "The Gold in Everything". This was followed in 2020 by the album "Thom and the Wolves", produced by the talented Matteo Pavesi (known for his work with Alice Phoebe Lou). In 2022, Thomas played a live soundtrack during the creation of the work "Rosenthaler Suite 1" by Sandro Kopp. His latest musical project, the album "Across the Burning Skies" has just been released and has been featured in a major article in the Spanish-language Rolling Stone Magazine.
www.thomandthewolves.com

Jule Rottluff

received her dance training at the Palucca University of Dance Dresden and the Centre for Contemporary Dance Cologne. She has been working as a freelance dancer in Dresden since 2011. In addition to her own projects, she has danced for the guts company, in "Ophelia" under the production management of Tristan Production, and with the choreographer Yaron Shamir. She frequently collaborates with artists from other fields, such as the composer John Moran, the everyone company, the object theatre group Cie Freaks and Fremde. She danced under the direction of Katja Erfurth in the "Geometric Ballet. In cooperation with the Feed Your Head Collective, they created the production "All in One", with which they were invited to the at.tension Festival 2022.

www.aboutblankcollective.com

Benjamin Rottluff

studied musicology and works as a musician and composer in Dresden. From 2018 to 2023, Rottluff wrote music for the music group Die Arbeit, whose debut album in February 2020 attracted unexpected attention across Germany. From 2019 to the end of 2022, he worked primarily as a composer and musician for the JuWie Dance Company. One highlight was the collaboration with the Bonn/Mannheim Feed Your Head Collective and the invitation to the at.tension Festival 2022 with the piece "All in One".

www.aboutblankcollective.com