MINUS 9

a one on one performance for the ear/hear/here

MINUS 9 is an anatomic sound installation, a one on one performance of 14 min for an ear, to hear, here. It is an invitation to dive into the sonographic scenography of your own body. From the outside all seems to be silent, from the inside the first blast of the universe is making a big band. In MINUS 9, the boundaries between musician and audience, between music and ritual, silence and sound, drumming and dreaming are broken down.

'With MINUS 9 we tease the equilibrium in the hierarchy of the senses. Can the “ear, hear, here” become the touching vestibule of a new order? We challenge the distance in between. When do we allow ourselves to be touched, metaphorically or literally? We invite the audience to re-question and rethink how we relate to each other. In our society a few roles trespass our comfort zone to touch our skin: doctors, caretakers, dance & sport coaches. They touch you but are you really touched? Music touches us emotionally, but what if it would literally touch your flesh?'

K&A

K&A within their performative constellations transform/translocate/transhape the relationship between the performer and the spectator to make it fluid. In any theater the audience carries a predetermined role. Within the work of K&A the expectation to be silent, to sit in the dark, to stay immobile, to watch the stage is being shifted. The latitude of the performer correlates with the longitude of the audience and is being redefined. In MINUS 9 the ear of the audience becomes the music instrument on which the composition is made on and the soundsystem through which it is perceived. MINUS 9 crosses the inner ear sound barrier, exposes the noise, the music that is hidden inside our own machine. This performance is a sonographer, an ultrasound guide into the auditors unknown zones. It is an ode to the simplicity that carries the multiplicity. A performance for an ear: to hear/here.

Cast & Credits

Concept, text & performance:K&A (Karla Isidorou & Alexandra Bellon)
The Instrument: Your ear

MINUS 9 wad supported by AFK Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunsten

Photography: Libor Galia / MINUS 9 at Prague Quadrennial 2023, part of RARE Performances curated by Carolina E Santo

Press

"The modest Minus 9, a one-on-one performance by visual artist Karla Isidorou and musician Alexandra Bellon, also has a ritual approach. We enter a small room where the two of them are sitting opposite of you. With poetic texts and gestures they lead you in their ritual, which far exceeds the intimate boundary between performer and spectator. Describing it also means a lot of giving away. The short performance moves between a theatrical experience and a session of osteopathy. The central point is the ear, which is manipulated in such a way that sounds from the body come to the surface and form a true soundscape. Anyone who surrenders has a special experience.’

Moos van de Broek / Theaterkrant

"Minus 9 is a wonderful, bizarre experience for your inner ear. The jury thought it was very impressive and interesting to approach the inner ear as an instrument and it was very well executed... ...all visiting jury members felt connected to the piece and thought it was a unique, intriguing experience.’’

Jury Amsterdam Fringe Festival 2019

Audience reactions

"A new discovery: watching a world, a film through your own ears. I didn’t know that this instrument was hidden inside my ears. Landscapes appear and disappear: mountains, oceans, forests evoked by two hands of A in conversation with my ears." Marjan van Giel

‘ Simple, beautiful & intimate piece, or experience... I felt open, connected and dove deep. Very deep..... and back up.’ Linda

" Thank you for making me hear something new!’” Willem

‘Never lose the joy to play. Today I got reminded of this, when I dive into MINUS 9 a precious place inside myself. Thank you for showing it to me’ Simona

'Artistic precision meets magic, dry water, deep Dive’ Ellada PQ2023

'Wonderful, mindblowing meditationblowing’ audience member PQ2023

'I had the privilege to experience the artist using my ears as an instrument. Very unique - very transformative’ Panayiotis PQ2023

'Oniric magical experience that can only be lived with the power of sound ears are often forgotten so it is incredible to remember their power’ audience member PQ2023

'It seems that now I can hear everything! I felt like I had a thousand layers of movement inside my body. As if my ears could take me back to myself' audience member PQ2023

'The experience you offered to me felt rare and awakening! You brought awareness to me about how many different ways one body (or bodies) can hear (or feel).' audience member PQ2023

'I learned how much sound is linked to touch!' audience member PQ2023

'Absolutely Amazing!' audience member PQ2023

'Thank you for an amazing experience - I will never forget!’ Beth PQ2023

Ready for a MINUS 9?

Upcoming Dates

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Past Dates

October 2023

Oct 21

21 October 2023

MINUS 9

Press

Audience reactions

Ready for a MINUS 9?

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