Ayla Pierrot Arendt

The video opera Death in Peace took shape against the backdrop of the anti-government protests sweeping through the streets of Tbilisi in the spring of 2024. In Ayla Pierrot Arendt’s piece, embedded in the unsettling soundscape by composer duo Nika Pasuri and Ani Zakareishvili, the protagonists of three different nationalities meet on four screens: two Georgians, two Germans, and a Russian in exile in Georgia. With their respective ideas of peace and freedom, friend and foe, inseparable from their political biographies, they encounter one another in the story of the Georgian Natia and the Russian deserter Andrej. And it is not long before Andrej is dead, shot in the German embassy in Tbilisi, of all places, by the ambassador’s husband. His accidental death raises many questions: the price of freedom, the limits of diplomacy, the gaps and myths of collective identity and loyalties – fuelled by mounting fears in an uneasy, conflict-ridden Europe.

Credits: 
Konzept und Regie / Concept and Direction AYLA PIERROT ARENDT Dramaturgie / Dramaturgy KRISTINA ROEDER Choreografie / Choreography ANNABELLE DVIR Kinematografie / Cinematography AYLA PIERROT ARENDT, MAXIM PECHERSKY Komposition / Composition NIKA PASURI, ANI ZAKAREISHVILI Songtexte / Lyrics DAVIT KHORBALADZE Performance PIA EPPING, TABEA GREGORY, LUCY-JO PETERMANN, CAROLINA SAAD VASCONCELLOS, LARA-MARIE WEINE Produktions- und Aufnahmeleitung / Coordination of Production and Recording DIANA KOSCHLAKOW Produktionsassistenz / Production Assistant MAJA LINDNER Director of Photography MAXIM PECHERSKY Zweite Kamera / Second Camera AKSEL STEEN BOELSMAND Kameraassistenz / Camera Assistants TIM HARTRICK, MONA NORDHUES Oberbeleuchtung / Gaffer TORBEN SCHÄFER, EMIL BASTING Lichttechnik Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm / Lighting Technology Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm FELIX DÖRNFELD, JIMMY KÖMPEL Schnitt / Montage AYLA PIERROT ARENDT PAUL HAAS Farbkorrektur / Color Grading JOHN HUSSAIN FLINDT Kostüm / Costume Design CLARA ROSINA STRASSER Maske / Make-Up BEATE BAUER, RACHEL ASHTON Dramaturgieassistenz / Dramaturgical Assistant ALIX DI JUSCO Gesang / Vocal Performance CHOIR OF THE OPERA OF KUTAISI, GEORGIA, DAVIT KHORBALADZE Sound Engineer Choir Kutaisi DAVIT KHOSITASHVILI Tonmischung und Mastering / Sound Mixing and Mastering LUKA TELIA Bühnenbild / Set Design AYLA PIERROT ARENDT Bühnenbildassistenz / Set Assistants JOSI HABEL, INA RÖPER, NELLY GRANSON Lichtdesign Bühne / Light Design Stage MATTHIAS RIEKER Videotechnik Bühne / Video Technician Stage NINA NADIG Grafische Gestaltung PR / PR Graphic Design AUTOSTRADA STUDIOS The Video Opera was produced by Ayla Pierrot Arendt, in co-production with Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm. Supported by Hessen Film & Medien, the Kulturamt Frankfurt am Main, the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art, as well as the Autorenstiftung Frankfurt am Main.The mobility project in Georgia was funded by the European Union and implemented by the Goethe-Institut. The preceding research trips were funded by Gwaertler Foundation. Installation Shots by Robert Schittko

Content note: parts with stroboscopic lights and mentions/depictions of death