Photo: Sophia Hegewald

 

„There’s no ‘one concept’ for us“

Cellist and concert dramaturge ANNE KECKEIS wants art to address the whole body. She explains to us how the very experimental program DEIN BESTER DEAL! came to be—and why that’s the reason why you should visit all festival formats this year.

Interview: Philipp Nowotny

 

Anne, what is a perfect concert to you?

That is impossible to answer, of course. A perfect concert would have to address the level of feeling, for sure. I feel, am involved, am there. It cannot be just another artistic delight that I filled my time with. I have to feel that it is doing something to me. There’s something that triggers me.

What could a trigger be to you?

It could be the closeness to the artists. It could be a great naturalness. At classical concerts there often is an etiquette that I find problematic. Often, they’re social events of an initiated circle in which you have to behave in a very particular way. That also includes that many always see it too spiritually and take it way too seriously.

Does art have to entertain?

It may. In any case, one needs to be able to talk about the art afterwards. It doesn’t always have please at the same time. I also find it exciting when something repels me.

The main thing is that I feel?

The more immersive, the more it pulls you in, the better. That’s why I also am a strong advocate for crossdivisional formats that contain even more, where dance, text, acting, video and much more come together. That creates new artistic layers but can also speak to people in a whole new way. Not only with the ears but also with the eyes and with the whole body.

This festival seasons, all our formats were developed by our own HIDALGO Kollektiv, that is interdisciplinary as well, for the first time.

At the beginning, we in the artistic management—Tom, Gregor und I—carved out what aspects of the topic of consumption are exciting to us: for example, the longing and the temptation, the social question as well as the dealing with body, love and the own conscience. What the Kollektiv will make of that in the individual formats is very exciting to me. It’s just a bunch of extremely talented people that regularly exchanges ideas and experiments together.

What will be the result of that?

There is no format that uses “that one concept”, all our concerts this season will be totally different from each other. That is why it’s worth it to go to not just one but all events. You will get a sweeping idea of different perspectives on the topic of art and consumption.

This year’s motto is “Dein bester Deal!”—why is HIDALGO your best deal in 2024?

Because it will be awesome! With the department store at Stachus, we have a location that we can re-occupy. We have top artists and really elaborate concepts. HIDALGO evolves once more in 2024, once more further away from pure song evenings toward the art spectacle. HIDALGO has never been this crossdivisional, this experimental.