Crossings was a series of interventions in public space taking place over two days at Willy-Brandt-Platz in Frankfurt am Main. The event included concerts, sound installations, and performances by artists Candela Capitán feat. Slim Soledad, Corin, JJJJJerome Ellis, Olan Monk, and Stefanie Egedy.

The series was inspired by the location itself: the vibrant square, often referred to as 'no man's land,' connects the forecourts of Schauspiel and Oper Frankfurt, while also bordering the banking district on one side and the station district on the other. At Willy-Brandt-Platz, distinct life realities converge. Crossings referred to the intersections of meaning that emerged when different sensitivities overlapped. It featured interventions by artists from various disciplines – spanning experimental and electronic music, dance, and performance – across different locations, from Ottmar Hörl's Euro Sculpture at Gallusanlage to Theaterplatz and the arcades of Schauspiel and Oper Frankfurt.

On September 22, Olan Monk and Corin performed live in the forecourt of Schauspiel and Oper Frankfurt. On both days, JJJJJerome Ellis’s album Clearing, including previously unreleased material, was played through the permanently installed speakers in the arcades. On the following day, September 23, Stefanie Egedy’s low-frequency subwoofer installation Bodies and Subwoofers resonated throughout the area around the Euro Sculpture. Choreographer Candela Capitán performed her infamous solo piece The Death at The Club, accompanied by a DJ set by Slim Soledad.

22 September 2023

JJJJJerome Ellis: The Clearing. Sound Installation, 11:00 - 16:00 (Arkaden / Arcades of Schauspiel and Oper Frankfurt)
Olan Monk: Songs for Nothing. Concert, 19:00 (forecourt / Theatervorplatz)
CORIN presents Lux Aeterna. Concert, 20:00 (forecourt / Theatervorplatz)

23 September 2023

JJJJJerome Ellis: The Clearing. Sound Installation, 11:00 - 16:00 (Arkaden / Arcades of Schauspiel and Oper Frankfurt)
Stefanie Egedy: Sound Installation. Activations every 20 minutes from 14:00 to 17:00 (Euro Sculpture, Gallusanlage)
Candela Capitán feat. Slim Soledad: The Death at The Club. Performance, 18:00 (forecourt / Theatervorplatz)

JJJJJerome Ellis is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, writer and proud stutterer. He researches relationships among blackness, disabled speech, nature, sound, and time through music, literature, performance, and video. Ellis' work includes soundscapes, scores for plays and podcasts, compositions using spoken word with ambient and jazz textures, among others.

For Crossings, he has selected tracks from his album ‘The Clearing,’ including unreleased material, which will play through the permanently installed loudspeakers in the arcades of Oper and Schauspiel Frankfurt—typically used for broadcasting in-house live performances. The album encourages a reframing of dysfluency in speech and its social impact as a realm for potential rather than pathology. Ellis, a block stutterer himself, refers to the intervals of silence in his speech as 'clearings'.

Olan Monk, hailing from Connemara, Ireland, is a musician, performer, and writer, who co-founded C.A.N.V.A.S. with Lugh O’Neill in 2018 – an events series and record label aiming to give collective agency to an increasingly dispersed community of artists. Olan's work spans experimental and popular songwriting. They perform both solo and collaboratively with artists like Actress, Elvin Brandhi, James K, Maria Somerville, among others, and have released music on C.A.N.V.A.S as well as recently on AD 93. Their latest EP explores 'displacement' as a cultural experience – which infuses their performance for Frankfurt.

Corin Ileto, known as CORIN, is an electronic music producer, DJ, and performer who engages with performance, sound design, theater, and club culture. In her productions—hovering between IDM, trance, and richly textured ambient—traditional sonic elements from contemporary electronic production converge with hyper-digital sounds and non-Western influences. Her releases draw from speculative mythology, encompassing science fiction, Western classical music, personal histories, and ancestral heritage. Corin has performed at major festivals worldwide, and is a regular presence on NTS Radio. In July, she unveiled her second album, "Lux Aeterna," on Lee Gamble's UIQ label, which she will present at Crossings.

Funded by the Department of Culture, City of Frankfurt, Crespo Foundation, Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft Frankfurt, d&b audiotechnik

Jon Orve

Apr 2022