Audio performance
From the Black Forest to the Black Sea, the river flows.
The river flows and meets a city on its way.
When the Danube’s waters reach Budapest, they are a little over halfway. They take ten days to reach us, and in another ten days, they will mingle with the salty waters of the sea.
The river has been making this journey for over a million of years and has seen Budapest many times.
‘Danu’ is translated as ‘the flowing one’ or as ‘she who came before everything else.’
During the performance, the audience, divided into two equal-sized groups, gathers on both sides of the riverbank. Step by step, in a single line, they descend toward the water simultaneously—to hear what the water has to say, to see if the river longs to speak.
Danu is an audio performance that makes use of headphones, a voice from across the water, and tap water with a pinch of salt.
Reflection
Today, I’ve been thinking about ‘Danu’, a project I worked on last summer by the riverside in Budapest. The weekend of the planned premiere, the river flooded—more severely than it had in over a decade. Throughout the process, I tried to listen to her (‘she’ felt feminine to me), sit beside her, and get to know her as best I could in the time I had. ‘Danu’ is translated as ‘the flowing one’ or as ‘she who came before everything else.’ The river is over a million years old. Budapest is but a brief memory in the river’s lifespan. Time has a different meaning for her than it does for me. And yet, during those days in September, our timing strangely aligned. The performance was cancelled and the audience stayed inside, unable to reach the meeting point or descend the stairs as the work had planned. I cancelled the performance while the river was performing—something dangerous for humans, yet something very real.
Today I wonder: what does it truly mean to work from and with a place, a piece of land, a body of water. How could I have continued listening, even from afar? Wasn’t she speaking loudly
In collaboration
Placcc Festival, SoAP Maastricht, Performing Arts Fund, Fanni Nánay, Andrea Lukács, Dorottya Biró
Presented
2024 14 – 15 Sept Placcc Festival, Budapest (HU) cancelled due to flooding
2024 12 – 13 Oct Placcc Festival, Budapest (HU)
2025 Spring Placcc Festival, Budapest (HU)