„The Schönberg Games“ is a work of art, but directly linked in its approach as an innovative art education.
Music, media art, chess, a multifaceted panorama that corresponds to Schönberg's work in its versatility, at the same time artistically brings it into a new narrative and explains and presents the essential peculiarities and works in an art-mediated way.
Arnold Schönberg's 150th birthday is on Friday, September 13, 2024. He was known to be triskaidekaphobic — the superstitious fear of the number 13; he also left out an „a“ from „Moses and Aaron“ to prevent the sum of the letters from becoming 13.
On the actual birthday, September 13th, there will be a lecture with a special artistic program as a prelude to the overall project as well as a kick-off event with encounters between the participants and guests of the partnerships as an international bridge from New York to Austria.
On Friday & Saturday, September 13 and 14, 2024, the life and biography of Arnold Schönberg will be honored, experienced and brought closer to an audience for a weekend in New York as part of a performative celebration with interventions and stories. The parks in New York are very crowded and lively, especially during the weekend. The project will also address park design, immigration and other issues.
A meeting format over three days and different stations, with a lot of artistic contributions, scientific impulses, exchange between business, art, and science.
2024 marks the 150th anniversary of Arnold Schönberg's birth.
Like no other composer, Schönberg shaped the transition to contemporary music. He was the founder of 12-tone music and his radical approach provoked both resistance and enthusiasm. To this day, he stands for an upheaval in classical music.
At the same time, his biography is a symbol of the history of the early 20th century. Arnold Schönberg, born in Vienna in 1874, was Jewish and had to convert to Protestantism in order to be allowed to marry and gain social recognition. In 1933, he had to emigrate to the USA to escape National Socialism. His music was branded by the Nazis as the epitome of degenerate music. It was banned and could not be performed in Germany and Austria for a long time.
With his biography and his work, Arnold Schönberg stands for resistance and overcoming the Third Reich.
To properly honor him and his work, the project „Schönberg Games — Chess, Tennis, Music and More!“ will be created in New York on the 150th anniversary of his birth.
An artistic intervention, a narrative on several levels, a mediation concept, a social sculpture, music, media and sound art
Get to Know Us
The project is an art, culture & education project and as such is dedicated to the public, aims to ensure low-threshold access and, in addition to the many people and personalities involved, to specifically address and inspire New York residents, passers-by, park visitors and the surrounding area with a program that aims to be a special performance and presentation for one day. Mediation, performance, play and music are elements of the presentations.
Austrian cultural heritage on a chessboard?
150th birthday, meeting & kick-off event for about 100 invited guests from many different worlds and heritages within the arts and sciences and other spheres of being and doing. Speech on the fear of Friday 13th, and a live music quartet. Opening of the Coalition Chess Game — an oversized chessboard that will be played interactively under the guidance of a chess expert.
A tennis tournament with an artistic setting. With music as the accompanying theme, with recitations by George Gershwin and Arnold Schönberg, who were enthusiastic tennis players, friends and both very important composers of the 20th century.
First official event at the Funkhaus. There will be a Schönberg coalition chess performance, led by the chess expert par excellence Prof. Ernst Strouhal, played by 36 personalities who will replace and fulfil the chess pieces! In the course of the evening, there will be a guided tour of the building, a tennis performance „Schönberg versus Gershwin“, a live band with „Funk“ in the canteen and „House“ in the club rooms.
The Schönberg Games feat Open Funkhaus: Admission 4 pm, Start 5 pm. Duration of coalition chess approx. 90 minutes. Meeting point: Argentinierstr. 30a, 1040 Vienna. Admission free!
There will be further interventions in several rooms, live music and DJs — a splendid time, Funk & House in the Funkhaus.
The project „The Schönberg Games“ aims to perform a very special kind of narrative, not a programmed festival with a purely musical program, nor just a narrative about Schönberg, but a woven, special and uniquely designed day of content, participatory, inclusive, inspirational.
Many contributors enrich the event with their presence and stories from their experiences, or stories from Schönberg's biography, the history of flight, immigration, the search for recognition and the search to find space for the implementation of his ideas and to categorically adhere to them.
The presentation of the many facets of his biography through the narration of his fate with the reflection of the fates of many other people. E.g. of Käthe Leichter among many others. In addition to the stories, there will be musical performances, sporting installations (a performative tennis game) and the introduction and playing of the coalition chess conceived by Schönberg.
Arnold Schönberg was also an enthusiastic chess player and inventor; among other things he invented the coalition chess game — a game of chess in which the game is played from four sides instead of two.
An oversized, interactive coalition chessboard will be set up in the park. It functions as a stage and as an inclusive, participatory play in public space. In addition, each of the black boxes has a QR code, each filled with different stories and music. This can be compared to an exhibition: 50 stories, music, narratives, filled with a wide variety of contents give a multifaceted impression on the topic and reflect Schönberg's rich interests and life paths. The game is explained through moderation and passers-by are invited to play.
New York, September 2024
Designer of the chessboard of The Schoenberg Games.
Dominik Nostitz is a musician, curator and cultural manager living in Vienna. Since 2002, he has been designing and producing art and cultural projects for institutions and festivals as well as innovative and participative cultural mediation productions in public spaces. He is the founder and director of the cultural association „Verein08 — for the promotion of multimodal forms of communication“, an interface and social biotope for art, culture and science. He works as a consultant for cultural projects in Austria and internationally and is a member of several cultural juries (European Capital of Culture, etc.).
Musician; Dominik's assistant.
„The Schönberg Games“ wants to create numerous impressions and give them away, to create images that you won't forget, to create an atmosphere that is so playful that even passers-by who don't have an affinity for Schönberg get involved in learning, hearing or participating in the stations.