Anushka Chkheidze
„Lost Lullaby“, 2023
Installation, Composition for several loudspeakers
Outdoor grounds of the former daycare center Krummstraße
Every Thursday until Sunday
Video: Anushka Chkheidze – Visit to Monheim am Rhein
During her first visit to Monheim am Rhein, Georgian artist Anushka Chkheidze discovered the empty daycare center on Krummstraße. The abandoned building and the empty garden inspired her to create her site-specific work in Monheim am Rhein. The idea for the sound installation "Lost Lullaby" was born.
"Childhood is the most fantastic part of life, which is incomparable. Even if you have sad, unpleasant memories, this is the time that makes you complete and that to a large extent defines you as a person." The basic ideas of "Lost Lullaby" were that children have an "independent, sincere and pure soul,” and that the lullaby is a link between the waking state and sleep. The artist saw the abandoned daycare center as a "link to childhood, something that is lost and never comes back."
When it comes to lullabies, she says, it doesn't matter how good the mother's voice was or how beautiful the childhood memories are, "it's still the most beautiful song in my life that will never come back."
During her visits to Monheim am Rhein, Anushka Chkheidze asked Monheim citizens about their favorite childhood lullabies and asked them to sing or hum them for a recording.
The multi-channel work "Lost Lullaby" was a loop of about ten minutes that combined these individual memories into a multi-voiced hymn to childhood.
This could be heard on the outdoor grounds of the former Krummstraße daycare center of the Catholic parish of St. Gereon and Dionysius.
Biography
Anushka Chkheidze is a musician and artist from Georgia living in the Netherlands. Her mentors include the Berlin musician Robert Lippok, with whom she has already collaborated several times.
Chkheidze grew up in the small Georgian village of Kharagauli. She gained her first musical experience as a child in the local choir.
First publications: Tracks on the compilation "Sleepers Poets Scientists" curated by Natalie Beridze, January 2019, debut album "Halfie", 2020, album "Move 20-21", 2021. Composition commissioned by the Swiss-Georgian festival Close Encounters for Gori Women's Choir in Georgia, first performance in April 2022.