Harpo Foundation is pleased to support two new performances by Los Angeles based artist Cindy Bernard: a staged reading of The Inquisitive Musician at the Kunsthaus Dresden and a companion production in Los Angeles, sponsored in part by FAR and the Goethe Institute. Additionally, Harpo funds will support the production of a video shot in Dresden that will become a permanent part of future presentations of The Inquisitive Musician.

The Inquisitive Musician is a translation and adaptation of a 17th century German satire attributed to Johann Kuhnau, Musicus Curiosus, or Battalus, the Inquisitive Musician; the Struggle for Precedence between the Kunst Pfeifer and the Common Players. The satire pits itinerant �beer fiddlers� against the official �Kunstpfeifer� in an argument over who is the better musician � those who play tunes by ear and memory or the �Kunstpfeifer� who relies on printed music in order to perform. Although the original play is situated in the world of music of the 17th century when the financial stresses of war prompted an increase in the hiring of itinerant musicians, the tension between academic and self taught forms of production continues to this day. The text acts as a metaphor for similar struggles both creative and class based.

Bernard sees The Inquisitive Musician as an open matrix, which allows her to work with different creative communities, facilitating relationships between diverse groups of artists through working together in the production of the play. Roles are populated by artists and musicians who identify with the struggle represented in the play and therefore have an active engagement with realizing the performance which includes live music in addition to the reading.

The Inquisitive Musician resides at the intersection of two poles of Bernard�s practice � her work as an individual visual artist, for which she is known for works that explore the relationship between cinema, memory, and landscape, and her role as founder and director of SASSAS (The Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound), which satisfies her interest in instigating social exchange. (Source: Foundation for Art Resources grant proposal)

For more information about the artist, visit here.