International Calling Frequency

Friday 2 December 2011 , 1 PM

Photo 2011: Steffen Jagenburg

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Be part of the performance International Calling Frequency this Friday 2 December in Rotterdam.

International Calling Frequency is a performance that first took place in 2011 in Seoul, featuring a group of participants that joined together for a moment of poetic protest, forming a temporary community.

Aimed at creating a united voice, the musical performance International Calling Frequency has no lyrics, only a melody that speaks to those who have experienced a form of exclusion. Disassociating itself from a call to protest, the romantic humming – similar to an anthem or lullaby – resonates in one’s mind and brings people together through collective memory. The tune of International Calling Frequency has been conceived by artist Minouk Lim in collaboration with composer, musician and singer Minwhee Lee.

Having made a score of International Calling Frequency available at Witte de With throughout Melanchotopia, we are now restaging a Rotterdam version of the performance this Friday, 2nd December. It will reveal and follow the Dutch regulations for gatherings in public space.

Together with Minouk Lim and Minwhee Lee, we are looking for volunteers to take part. Anyone willing to speak up and gather for a moment of poetic protest is invited to participate.

—Participants

Minouk Lim

Friday 2 December 2011

1:00 pm Meet at Witte de With (Witte de Withstraat 50) for an introduction to the project by Minouk Lim and Minwhee Lee, followed by a rehearsal of the song. If you have a musical instrument, please bring it with you.

2:00 pm The artist and performers will take to the streets of Rotterdam to sing together.

3:00 pm Regroup at Witte de With for refreshments.

Guidelines for International Calling Frequency

The intention is to pay tribute to abandoned sites and to those who have been expelled from any given situation.
Learn this song first by watching the video or the score posted online.
Fix and announce the time and place for the performance using Social Network Sites and other online means.
Once on site, do not gather in a cluster but stand apart from each other.
This song/performance aims to create a landscape of belief that ‘we’ sing together though you are singing alone in your spot.
This can be performed with or without instruments and is always on a voluntary basis.
All different interpretations of the original song are welcome and invited.
Among the participants, one person must give the sign to start.
Similar to a sinking ship sending out an SOS signal, this song is a calling frequency sent out to a world dreamed of. The song begins with humming, and has no written lyrics in a specific language.
In performing this song, it is highly recommended to write your own lyrics to it.
When the song is heard, it functions as a signal to comfort and encourage those who have been expelled. Layoffs due to discrimination become more and more common and as a result, we start to lose hope. While Neoliberalism tramples on our sense for compassion and memory, we sing to express our contempt.
This song is dedicated to potential unions. A union encouraged in this situation.

—Downloads

The partition of International Calling Frequency.