Lunchmeat Festival, tranzit.cz, the National Gallery Prague, and Prague Art Week present the performance Hildegard of Bingen by Swiss artist Nils Amadeus Lange.

Nils Amadeus Lange has long felt a deep admiration for the composer, abbess, healer, botanist, and poet Hildegard von Bingen. In her texts on female orgasm, her interpretation of the Bible, and her way of composing music, he recognizes queer practices that are still visionary today. An important figure of the twelfth century, her writings and scores have survived to this day. In the performance, Lange examines the use of Hildegard von Bingen’s phytological research and medieval, avant-garde musicological language in contemporary performative rituals.

The artist and ethnobotanist Nils Amadeus Lange presents a performance that explores the dramaturgical potential of the sense of smell: He collects plants and resins and burns them in self-made, space-consuming vessels. He complements this incense ritual with texts on sexuality by Hildegard von Bingen examining the symbiosis of man and nature from a different perspective and also comparing the natural with the supernatural. Thus, a new reality and a different state of mind are created.

Concept, artistic direction, and performance: Nils Amadeus Lange

Performance: Lisa Candidas, Flo Schlessmann

Singing and performance: Mario Espinoza, Catherine Schroeder

Venue: Small Hall, National Gallery Prague – Trade Fair Palace

Admission is free of charge, subject to capacity. The event is supported by the Pro Helvetia Foundation and the City of Zurich.