yuniya edi kwon:
silver through the grass like nothing
Saturday, July 5, 2025, 9:30 pm, Festival Boat
yuniya edy kwon: solo violin & voice
Darian Donovan Thomas: violin
Joanna Mattrey: viola
Tomeka Reid: cello
Henry Fraser: double bass
Dudù Kouate: percussion & ritual instruments
Nava Dunkelman: percussion & ritual instruments
“silver through the grass like nothing” draws on the traditions of experimental music theatre and centuries-old ritual practices. On the one hand, kwon refers to the phenomenon of Śarīra: In Buddhism, these are relics, typically small beads, which, according to Buddhist belief, remain in the ashes of deceased Buddhist masters. For this reason, Śarīras are revered in various Buddhist traditions. They are also said to have healing powers. For her performance, she combines the tradition of relic beads with a personal story of suffering. After solo performances, the first ensemble performance will take place in Monheim.
„Collaborative improvisation is a recurring theme in yuniya edi kwon’s artistic practice. „I love collaborating with other artists and I take the responsibility and the privilege of bringing artists together for a project very seriously. For me, the most important thing is our shared human experience together. So, I want to do everything that I can to ensure that each individual has what they need in order to feel free and access their wild creativity.”
Whatever yuniya edi kwon is working on, one thing is certain: „I’m less interested in composing with a capital C, where I like to have this perfect vision and create this perfect score, which is then perfectly executed. I want the object of the work itself to be a partner in my life. It’s a dialectical process: the work feeds me, and I feed it, and we sort of grow together in this spiral.”“
yuniya edi kwon’s art is as unpredictable as life itself.