Malice in Sonderland — a real time audiovisual performance reflecting the contemporary relevance of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland by Korhan Erel and Alexandra Reil :: January 19, 2010; 8:00 pm :: Museum of Applied Arts Vienna (MAK), Säulenhalle / MAK Columned Main Hall, Stubenring 5, A 1010 Vienna.

Malice in Sonderland deals with Lewis Carroll’s famous novel Alice in Wonderland (1865). In their audiovisual performance the sound composer Korhan Erel, Istanbul, and the media artist Alexandra Reill, Vienna, work with the original material of Norman Z. McLeod’s feature film Alice in Wonderland shot in 1933. With experimental digital methods they research the theme and plot of the complex fairy tale and in the framework of the MAK NITE© perform a phantasmagoric live interpretation, an improvisation composed of digital worlds and abstract sound collages.

Erel und Reill reflect the relevance of Carroll’s adventurous plot in contemporay societies. Researching the theme, the artists found themselves re-phrasing the title: Malice in Sonderland. Malice, the term describes the intention to hurt, to damage, to act in hostility. And Sonderland? Today, what is it that best characterizes capitalist societies, what makes these worlds so special? Does a “hero“ like Alice have to find her way in competitive societies where in the end one can succeed only by fighting? Is it possible for her or him to find the path in such societies? In performance-oriented societies, which choices does the individuum have?

Creating “a brave new world behind the mirror“, these and many more questions are raised by Korhan Erel and Alexandra Reill on their journey through the woven paths of Carroll’s Wonderland.

Korhan Erel is one of the most relevant contemporary sound composers of Istanbul and founding member of Islak Köpek, a free improvisation group internationally known. On his laptop, he combines sound modules, oscillators and digital algorithms turning into new instruments themselves. His compositions blend industrial and found sounds forming sound textures and acoustic collages.

Alexandra Reill is a media artist born in Vienna and at the time being living and working in Hamburg. With her label kanonmedia she has been working on media performances for years, in her work she often concentrates on sociocultural themes and researches the sociological influences of digitalization and the information age on human identities. Her digital worlds and live visual compositions are characterized by profound thematic research, rhythmic dramaturgies and the conscious setting of abstract visual languages.