Second Hand Trauma

It began as a premiere project by the Neue Vocalsolisten for the Zagreb Biennale 2023. But then Balkan Affairs became one of the most important journeys of the invited composers' artistic lives: a journey into the recent past of their families and societies, on which they learned more about themselves than they could ever have imagined.

In their works for the Neue Vocalsolisten, the seven composers from the seven former Yugoslav countries refer to the period of the Balkan wars in the 1990s and the social consequences triggered by the break-up of Yugoslavia. For the Voices Festival, a triptych has now been created that complements the concert with a video installation and a musical coda. To this end, the composers conducted interviews in their home countries about the challenge of living together in diverse societies in the face of shared experiences.

In the introduction to the Balkan Affairs project, Christine Fischer, the project's producer, will talk to Margareta Ferek-Petric, co-initiator of the 2023 project, Mladen Ivanović, documentary filmmaker from Montenegro, with some of the composers involved as well as Sergej Newski, artistic director of the Voices Berlin Festival, who will provide the thematic link to this year's festival theme.