Photo: Nathan Ceddia

Liina Magnea

«Sehnsucht +»

Performance for Tanznacht Berlin 2020 

Before the pandemic, I planned to perform my piece “Sehnsucht 3” at Tanznacht 2020. It glorifies the apocalypse and calls on the magma within the earth to burst out and rain down on us. Ironically, these romantically nihilistic obsessions were then confronted with the real possibility of an apocalypse caused by Corona. I felt like the meme saying, “what I expected my apocalypse to look like vs. what it actually looks like”. On the left “EXPECTATION”, an action figure dressed in full armour on a battlefield; on the right “REALITY”, a person in a bathrobe and VR goggles, eating snacks on a sofa. I surrendered and sobered up. 

“Sehnsucht +” is a surrender with the opera singer Sigrún Gyða Sveinsdóttir and me as cells in a sleeping body. Our performance at Tanznacht Berlin might be a local thing, but we are connected to a net of other cells and so keeping a body alive. It is a three-day performance, in which other singers, speakers and dancers participate. And maybe, in 2021, we will indulge in sweating bodies smashing hard against each other like never before.

Obsessed with the idea of the “Gesamtkunstwerk”, Liina Magnea makes dance and performance art, releases music under the name ‘Magnea’ and works as a film dramaturge. She is currently making her first short film and is involved in helping people with eating disorders.

magnea.hotglue.me

Sigrún Gyða is a musician/artist based in Amsterdam, currently studying for an MA in Moving Images at Sandberg Institute. She also has a degree in Classical Singing. Her work focuses on social groups, cultures and classes in relation to sociology and psychology.

Julianna Schreyer is a musician. Her love for all the arts makes her an allrounder. She sees art as the most realistic solution for world peace. After her Master in Music (UdK Berlin) she now shares her passion for music at Melanchthon-Gymnasium.

Choreographer / Composer / Performer: Liina Magnea. Performer / Singer: Sigrún Gyða Sveinsdóttir, Julianna Schreyer. With the kind support of Tanznacht Berlin 2020. In cooperation with: Universität der Künste Berlin, Universität der Künste Berlin/Frauenbeauftragte, Kostümkollektiv e.V. and
Icelandic Art Center.