Phil Collins

Phil Collins

HAU Hebbel am Ufer

In order of appearance: (1) Phil Collins, my heart’s in my hand, and my hand is pierced, and my hand’s in the bag, and the bag is shut, and my heart is caught, 2013. Installation view, Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin, 2014. Photo: Jens Ziehe. (2) Phil Collins, Tomorrow Is Always Too Long (still), 2014. Film. (3) Phil Collins, my heart’s in my hand, and my hand is pierced, and my hand’s in the bag, and the bag is shut, and my heart is caught, 2013. Production still, GULLIVER, Cologne.

March 16, 2015

Phil Collins
18 March–18 April 2015 

HAU Hebbel am Ufer
HAU1
Stresemannstr. 29
10963 Berlin
Germany

HAU2
Hallesches Ufer. 32
10963 Berlin
Germany

T +49 (0) 30 259 004 27
tickets [​at​] hebbel-am-ufer.de

www.hebbel-am-ufer.de


my heart’s in my hand, and my hand is pierced, and my hand’s in the bag, and the bag is shut, and my heart is caught

18–22 March, 26–28 March, 30 March–2 April, 9–12 April, 15–18 April / 5–8pm
HAU2 
Installation

For the last 15 years Phil Collins has been making films, installations, and live events which engage with social reality, and mine the contradictory impulses of intimacy and desire within the public sphere. In 2013 Collinscollaborated with guests of GULLIVER survival station for the homeless located under the railway arches at Cologne’s central station. There he installed a phone booth with a free line that anyone could use for unlimited calls, on the agreement that the conversations would be recorded and anonymised. The selected material was posted to a group of musicians, serving as the starting point for original new songs presented as 7″ vinyl records in listening booths specially designed by architect Florian Stirnemann

The project includes contributions by some of Collins’s personal heroes (Scritti Politti, David Sylvian, Lætitia Sadier and Damon & Naomi), trailblazing experimental acts (Demdike Stare, Planningtorock, Maria Minerva, Pye Corner Audio, Heroin In Tahiti, Peaking Lights), local musicians across different generations (Elektronische Musik aus: Köln, Pluramon, Cologne Tape), and the original German indie-superstar Julia Hummer.

Having worked for a homeless magazine in the 1990s, Collins has a long-standing interest in issues relating to these purposefully ignored and routinely overlooked communities. Bringing to the fore the expressive potential of the human voice in an age of total surveillance, he dramatises the moment of communication as an emotional and ambivalent exchange. 

Orginally commissioned for a solo exhibition at Museum Ludwig (Cologne), and supported by Akademie der Künste der Welt.

Tomorrow Is Always Too Long
15 April, 8pm
HAU1
Film screening; UK 2014, 82 minutes, with German subtitles

Collins’s first feature-length filmis a love letter to Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city. Developed over the course of a year with various local communities, the film paints a portrait of daily life as seen through the scope of human experience. At the heart of the film is a six-song cycle by musician Cate Le Bon whose intimate pop gems are interpreted by non-professional singers. Accompanied by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and filmed in their everyday environments, the performances play out as kaleidoscopic vignettes in a modern day city symphony.

Musical sequences are interspersed with public-access-style broadcasts filmed in a disused 1960s TV studio. They feature a cast of Glaswegians from every walk of life whom Collins met and befriended: socially engaged pensioners, burlesque animal rights activists, street poets, market traders, Elvis impersonators, club kids, and elderly star-crossed lovers. 

The third strand comprises a series of intricate short animations, created by Matthew Robins and soundtracked by Barry Burns, which follow a group of characters during a night out on the town—eating chips, loitering in the streets, disco dancing, drug taking, and engaging in nocturnal free-style sexual acrobatics at the local park.

The improbable lovechild of musicals and documentary, late-night television and silhouette animation, Tomorrow Is Always Too Long defies classification and embarks on an immersive, hypnotic trip into the heart of the city.

Commissioned by The Common Guild for Festival 2014
Supported by the Goethe-Institute (Glasgow) and HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin).

my heart’s in my hand 
Album release and benefit concert
With Lætitia Sadier, Demdike Stare, Heroin In Tahiti, and a DJ set by Barry Burns
Phantasm and Politics Special
18 April, 10pm
HAU2

Shady Lane Productions (Berlin) and Nero (Rome) are releasing a double 12″ album which collects all 13  tracks produced for Phil Collins’s installation presented at HAU2. Limited to 500 copies, it comes in a silkscreened gatefold sleeve, with a booklet documenting the project and its exhibitions in Cologne, New York, and Berlin. Featuring new texts by Mark Fisher and Florian Schneider, the album will be available at a special price for the launch. 

A benefit gig at HAU2 includes a stellar line-up of live performances by Lætitia Sadier, Demdike Stare, and Heroin In Tahiti, and a DJ set by Barry Burns. All proceeds from tickets and album sales on the night will go to GULLIVER survival station for the homeless. 

 

Phil Collins at HAU Hebbel am Ufer
Advertisement
RSVP
RSVP for Phil Collins
HAU Hebbel am Ufer
March 16, 2015

Thank you for your RSVP.

HAU Hebbel am Ufer will be in touch.

Subscribe

e-flux announcements are emailed press releases for art exhibitions from all over the world.

Agenda delivers news from galleries, art spaces, and publications, while Criticism publishes reviews of exhibitions and books.

Architecture announcements cover current architecture and design projects, symposia, exhibitions, and publications from all over the world.

Film announcements are newsletters about screenings, film festivals, and exhibitions of moving image.

Education announces academic employment opportunities, calls for applications, symposia, publications, exhibitions, and educational programs.

Sign up to receive information about events organized by e-flux at e-flux Screening Room, Bar Laika, or elsewhere.

I have read e-flux’s privacy policy and agree that e-flux may send me announcements to the email address entered above and that my data will be processed for this purpose in accordance with e-flux’s privacy policy*

Thank you for your interest in e-flux. Check your inbox to confirm your subscription.