chasing waterfalls

A Berlin-based artist collective comprised of theatre and media artists, musicians, researchers and digital specialists led by director Sven Sören Beyer. The field of tension between man and machine is the catalyst for phase7’s artistic discourse. phase7 endeavours to create performative stagings and installations with digital focus and international appeal. They seemed utopic at first, but proved to be sustainably progressive in the international art context. The spectrum of phase7’s projects ranges from operas such as Samuel Beckett/Morton Feldman’s Neither and the high-tech fairy tale Nobody but a princess to major events such as the opening of the Capital of Culture Plovdiv 2019 and celebrations of the 25^th and 30^th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall at the Brandenburg Gate. Their current focus is the examination of AI’s autonomisation — its virtual and real impact on modern society and one’s self: what happens when machine learning algorithms interact with humans as a creative process and partner?

Artistic director of phase7 performing.arts. In East Germany he initially worked in road construction, until he was able to study at the Palucca School in Dresden and finally at the renowned Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. After staging and choreographing at national theatres such as the Komische Oper Berlin and the Stadttheater Nuremberg, he founded his own ensemble, phase7, in 1999, in which he combines media research and art. His cross-media aesthetics quickly established him as one of the most internationally sought-after German media artists. He has realised productions at the Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival, Stuttgart State Opera’s Forum Neues Musiktheater, the Capital of Culture Umeå, the Bergen International Festival, to name a few. For his realisation of the Samuel Beckett/Morton Feldman opera Neither using wave field synthesis, Beyer was awarded the German OPUS stage prize.

Photo: ©phase7 performing.arts GmbH

Born in 1992, Lee is a multitalented artist and composer who was born, raised and lives in Hong Kong. As a composer, Lee was mostly self-taught. Since 2016, he has been studying composition at summer academies with composers Oscar Bianchi, Frederic Durieux, Philippe Manoury, Isabel Mundry and Yann Robin, among others. His works have been premiered by Ensemble Intercontemporain (France), Ensemble Modern (Germany), Ensemble Multilatérale (France), Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Subaerial Collective (US) and HereNowHear (US); and presented at Cycle Music & Arts Festival (Iceland), Evesdropping.London (UK), IRCAM Festival ManiFeste (France), Seoul International Computer Music Festival (South Korea) and Ticino Musica Festival (Switzerland). In parallel to his work as a composer, Lee specialises in new music and has directed the regional premiere of works by Nico Muhly, Franck Bedrossian and Guillaume Connesson. In 2022, Lee will return to Germany to lead Ensemble Modern in premiering works by young composers as part of the Cresc... Biennale for Contemporary Music Frankfurt Rhein Main.

Photo: ©Nick Trieu

An award-winning creative studio specialises in composing sound and code for sonic experience. 

As a high-performance team, they consist of composers, sound designers, creative thinkers, scientists and technologists. What connects their different expertise is the passion they share for exploring new ways — such as AI — to move people through the impact of sound. 

Collaborated artists include: Alan Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Grammy winner Gast Waltzing and Christopher Bauder (in Dark Matter Berlin), among others. Their works can be found internationally in real and virtual environments, art spaces, museums and events. 

Born in Bremen, Germany, he studied theatre studies in Munich with Prof Jens Malte Fischer, as well as modern German literature and philosophy. After working as an assistant director in Regensburg, he worked as a dramaturge in Augsburg, Biel, Solothurn and Gelsenkirchen, where he was awarded the Gelsenkirchen Theatre Prize in 2003. From 2008 he was engaged for ten seasons as dramaturge/deputy to the state director in artistic matters at the Nuremberg State Theatre. He has also written opera adaptations for children and held teaching positions in theatre history and dramaturgy. Since the 2018/19 season, he has been engaged as chief dramaturge and deputy to the artistic director at the Semperoper Dresden. Since then he has been taking charge of the productions including Moses und Aron by Schönberg (directed by Calixto Bieito); Carmen by Johan Inger (ballet); Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Wagner (directed by Jens-Daniel Herzog); Le Grand Macabre by György Ligeti (directed by Calixto Bieito); The Magic Flute by Mozart (directed by Josef Ernst Köpplinger); Aida by Verdi (directed by Katharina Thalbach) and Madama Butterfly by Puccini (directed by Amon Miyamoto), among others.

Photo: ©Johann Casimir Eule

Born and raised in Nuremberg, Neudecker studied theatre directing at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts. She lives in Berlin as a freelance writer and graduate director. She has been a member of phase7 performing.arts since 2001, where she wrote the libretto for Himmelsmechanik (composed by Christian Steinhäuser) for the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She has been awarded numerous literary prizes for her novels and short stories, published by Luchterhand Literaturverlag. Her Summer Novella, published in 2015, reached the SPIEGEL-bestseller list; her novel Der Gott der Stadt was nominated for the Uwe Johnson Prize in 2020. In 2021, Neudecker was Storm Writer for the Theodor-Storm-Society. In 2022, Theater Bielefeld opened its season with Neudecker’s libretto for Alfred Döblin’s Berlin Alexanderplatz (composed by Vivan and Ketan Bhatti).

Photo: ©Maurizio Gambarini

A German-Argentine designer and a stage and costume designer, Richter graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 1985, majoring in stage design. Since then he has worked with a focus on stage and costume design for opera, musical, theatre and film productions (mainly with director Jutta Brückner) in Germany, Argentina, Venezuela, USA, Greece and Italy, among others. In 2001, he founded his studio in Berlin. As a founding member of phase7, Richter has worked with Sven Sören Beyer on more than 70 productions, including the 3D opera Neither in Dresden, Berlin, Hong Kong and Bergen, Himmelsmechanik at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and as the opening programme of the Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) in Taiwan, and Nobody but a princess in Hong Kong. As an outfitter, Richter is known for his cross-cultural style; as a designer, he cites South American and Arabic influences.

Photo: ©phase7 performing.arts GmbH

Born in 1972, Schletter is a freelance lighting and video designer. His international engagements include: Nothing but a princess in Hong Kong, Fashion Week in Berlin and New York, concerts and recordings by Daniel Barenboim with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, collaborations with cellist Pablo Ferrández and trumpeter Till Brönner, to name a few. At the 200^th anniversary of Fontane’s birth, he worked with Frank Matthus on Effi in the Underworld, and with Herbert Olschok on Garcìa Lorca's Blood Wedding. His credits could also be found in Bauhaus Dessau (as freelance lighting designer), German theatre prize Der Faust (as video designer), and Living the City, an exhibition commissioned by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community. He specialises in using innovative technologies in his interdisciplinary installations. In phase7, in addition to lighting design, Schletter is involved in the development of stage design and video projection.

Photo: ©Susie Knoll

A Berlin-based design studio with a focus on artistic, multimedia productions. It was founded by media artist Daniel Bandke and communication designer Hajo Rehm, who are internationally active with their designs and video mappings. They treat buildings, stages and space as their canvases. Studio Eigengrau’s storytelling approach is to connect sound and performance, which plays a decisive role in shaping the overall picture. Their recent projects include: the opening of the Capital of Culture Plovdiv 2019, the multimedia show celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall at the Brandenburg Gate, The Luther Moment celebrating the 500^th anniversary of the Diet of Worms in 2021.

Photo: ©Angela Regenbrecht

An engineer in the arts. As a pioneer in the field of intermedial performance, he developed trendsetting video technologies and interactive stage projections, for works including Glow and Mortal Engine by the Australian dance company Chunky Move. He was awarded Design in Dance for Glow at Green Room Awards, among others. Weiss has adapted his interactive visuals for a wide variety of performance formats, such as the MV for Get Outta My Way by Kylie Minogue, and King Kong, a large-scale musical theatre production by Global Creatures (Melbourne, 2013). He has also enriched numerous opera productions with his interactive video art, including  Tristan und Isolde with English National Opera and set designer Anish Kapoor at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Weiss teaches media technology at the Technical University of Nuremberg.

Photo: © Heinz Stricker

Ploypapus Phosri, better known as Ployz, is a Thai multimedia artist living and working in Berlin. Ployz’s works take various forms such as motion graphic design, 2D and 3D animation, generative design and audio-visual art. She is particularly interested in real-time visualisation, art and science, and the interface between analogue and digital. She began exploring visual principles and digital possibilities as early as 2006. After completing her studies in East Westphalia-Lippe in 2013, she became involved with computer-generated imagery and later focused on motion design. Being from the Eastern Hemisphere, Ployz is strongly influenced by their philosophies, which are reflected in her works. In recent years, Ployz began experimenting with visual programming, focusing on real-time interactive computer graphics. Most of her digital media projects are dedicated to exploring the intersection between art and technology.

Photo: ©Moritz Zauleck

Born in Bergen, Norway, Inderhaug began her musical education at the Rogaland Music Conservatory in Stavanger. From 1997 to 2003 she studied singing at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and the Royal Opera Academy in Copenhagen. She made her debut at the opera house there in 1999 as Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro). From 2003 to 2005, she was an ensemble member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. She has also made guest appearances at numerous opera houses, including the Norske Opera in Oslo, the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Komische Oper Berlin and the Staatstheater Nürnberg. Her repertoire includes roles such as Gilda (Rigoletto), Venus (Le Grand Macabre), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Venus/Gepopo (Neither) and Autonoe/Proserpina (Die Bassariden).

Photo: ©Trond Gudevold

Founded in 2008 by William Lane, the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble (HKNME) is Asia’s leading new music group, dedicated to presenting contemporary music to the highest possible standard. The Ensemble has led numerous world and regional premieres of important contemporary works — a number of which commissioned by the HKNME — at prestigious music festivals and venues around the world, including the Hong Kong Arts Festival, New Vision Arts Festival, Tongyeong International Music Festival / ISCM, ECHOFLUXX Festival of New Media, CYCLE Music and Art Festival, Shanghai New Music Week, Beijing Music Festival, Hong Kong  Week in Taipei, MONA FOMA, Hong Kong Music Series in London, Angel Orensanz Center in New York and Wilsey Center for Opera in San Francisco. The HKNME has been annually funded by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council since 2012.