The Pond

The Pond is our new production for children of all ages and has been in development since 2017. After several years of artistic research, experimentation with materials, and touring related works, it finally premiered in September 2024.

At its core, The Pondis about presence — about dwelling in the moment and allowing sound, light, and material to unfold in real time. Drawing inspiration from futuristic and abstract aesthetics, the performance explores a visual and musical language shaped through improvisation. Rather than presenting a linear narrative, it creates shifting atmospheres that invite free association, curiosity, contemplation, and shared reflection.

The scenography is an integral and active part of the composition. Reuse and transformation form the conceptual backbone of the work. Instruments and visual structures are constructed from recycled and found materials — from an old spinning wheel reinforced with metal, to ceramic tiles suspended like a fragmented xylophone, to a rattling cardboard box filled with bottle caps. These objects are not decorative props but sounding bodies and sculptural elements. Through amplification, friction, resonance, projection, and light manipulation, they are transformed into both musical instruments and living installations.

Shadows, close-up projections, and moving light reshape the objects in real time, expanding their scale and meaning. A bicycle wheel becomes both percussion and kinetic sculpture; shards of ceramic echo both Mondrian-like abstraction and fragile architecture. The space continuously shifts between concert, installation, and visual art environment.

Associations may range from Reodor Felgen’s inventive universe to the mechanical poetics of Jean Tinguely and the geometric abstraction of Piet Mondrian, clearly referencing the found-object tradition. Yet the performance remains distinctly its own: an improvised journey where light and music function as equal partners. Sound influences light; light reshapes perception; material responds to gesture. The result is a synesthetic experience in which everyday objects are given new life as sound, movement, and projection interact.

Although rooted in improvisation, the performance unfolds with a strong compositional awareness. The interplay between the musicians and the lighting artist creates a precise and cohesive whole, where spontaneity and structure coexist. The audience is invited not to decode meaning, but to inhabit a shared sensory space — a room for imagination, attentiveness, and quiet wonder.

The Pondis a collaboration between the improvisation trio Parallaxand lighting artist Evelina Dembacke. The work builds on the acclaimed production Lydrommet, which has been presented more than 1,000 times, further developing its exploration of sound as spatial experience and light as scenographic material.

This is contemporary art for both children and adults — a cross-generational sensory experience that resonates beyond age categories. By avoiding didactic framing and embracing abstraction, The Pondopens a space for free imagination, embodied listening, and collective presence.