Megaphone Choir

The megaphone choir sings with the ghostly voices of a vanished place. 12 women with megaphones set interview-statements of former residents, tenants and contractors of the so called “Esso Houses” at Hamburg Reeperbahn to music and amplify* them. In 2009, the major corporation „Bayerische Hausbau” bought those buildings, speculating on its demolition from the very beginning.

The “Esso Houses” with affordable apartments, shops, legendary night clubs and bars and last but not least a gas station which functioned as “village square” had developed into an important part of St.Paulis everyday live. Due to alleged acute danger of collapse, the “Esso Houses” were been evicted 2013 and demolished 2014.

The megaphone choir was part of the demonstrations against the rapid gentrification of the St. Pauli district. Over years it contributed to the political debates around the “Esso Houses”. The performance ESSO HÄUSER ECHO was functioning as a funeral service for the buildings after the eviction. It´s a performance dealing with a moment of failure of political resistance to point out the difference between mourning and resignation.

The megaphone Choir with only female members uses word-for-word interview-texts and amplifies voices arosing from private speech. Often one can hear the speakers struggling for the right words. It creates a powerful and unusual form of political statement, avoiding the eloquent, rousing speech that is familiar to us from political agitation.