Katharina Mevissen / Natascha Gangl & Christian Dierstein / Choir of Singing Hands - A Matinee between Sound and Sign Language

Description

Katharina Mevissen: Becoming loud. A speech On the evening of May 12, 2024, after her thank-you speech for the Droste Promotion Prize at the New Castle Meersburg, Katharina Mevissen makes a startling discovery: At the side entrance of the building, she reads on a plaque about the use of the Episcopal Baroque Residence on Lake Constance, including as a "Miss Institute, National Socialist Reich Finance School, and Deaf-Mute Institution." Based on the outdated term "Deaf-Mute Institution," Mevissen begins research into the facility, which has been relocated several times in its 72-year history. In the State Archive, she finds 33 results for Freiburg, 57 for Karlsruhe: "Records that should be brought to language... Would I have written a different speech, would I have known earlier? I believe: yes." This extraordinary speech is heard at the conclusion of the 40th Freiburg Literary Talk and at the start of the new Literature House series "Laut werden".
Who speaks, who is heard, to whom do we give our voice? Which narratives prevail, which stories remain untold, how do we communicate? In questions of hearing and not hearing, the interfaces of our democracy, political mechanisms of power and vulnerability, resistance and participation are revealed. A morning for hearing and deaf audiences, interpreted into German Sign Language by Barbara Herold and Yvonne Weichsel. Natascha Gangl, Christian Dierstein: Da Sta
Reading concert The title of Natascha Gangl's text "Da Sta," which won her the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in Klagenfurt in 2025, means "The Stone" in Southeast Styrian dialect, and "Yes, they are" in Slovene. In her homeland in Styria, the borders of Austria, Hungary, and Slovenia meet—and with them, three languages. The people and their words have inscribed themselves into the ground; they seem to rise as soon as someone steps on them, they stand in the room if you listen carefully. Like Natascha Gangl in her acoustic research, which virtuously follows the traces of a Nazi crime committed here towards the end of World War II. The narrator investigates the secret of a privately erected memorial stone in the forest, asks questions about remembering and forgetting, works with field recordings and interviews—and breaks the silence, also breaking the sound of language. Listening, writing, speaking are for Gangl a unity. Her texts combine dialect, multilingualism, and rhythmic language composition into acoustic storytelling spaces; her reading performances are an experience. Today, this multifaceted literature gains another acoustic dimension in collaboration with percussionist Christian Dierstein (Ensemble Recherche). Choir of Singing Hands
Final concert To conclude the 40th Literary Talk, we celebrate the combination of choral music and sign poetry, an art form of sign language. The inclusive choir of Singing Hands has been inspiring audiences since 2023 with its performances and innovative approach: in an intensive artistic process, original and well-known pieces are transformed into multilingual arrangements. The ensemble of deaf and hearing members sings both spoken language and with signs. Words and gestures in motion create a special dialogue between performers and audience. At the Literature House, works by Ludwig van Beethoven meet compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, before the matinee concludes with a medley of folk songs and a wordplay by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara. Artistic direction: Sophia Kirstein (Chorus Director) and Stephanie Mündel-Möhr (Sign Poetry).
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Photos: Katharina Mevissen © Maischa Souaga, Natascha Gangl © Daniel Sostaric, Christian Dierstein © Peter Gwiazda, Choir of Singing Hands © Leif Möhr Sponsors: Cultural Office of Freiburg City, Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg, Sparkasse Freiburg-Nördlicher Breisgau, Guzzoni-Federer Foundation, Deutsche Pfandbriefbank
Cooperation partners: Theater im Marienbad, Bookstore jos fritz
Cultural partner: SWR Culture Date: 8.11.2026, 11–13:00
Location: Literature House Freiburg, Bertoldstraße 17
Admission: 11/7 Euro Literary Talk
Literature House

Highlights

• Matinee between sound and sign language
• Reading concert with Natascha Gangl and Christian Dierstein
• Interpretation into German Sign Language

General Information

The event takes place on May 12, 2024, at the Literature House Freiburg and explores the interfaces between hearing and non-hearing. Katharina Mevissen presents her speech as part of the 40th Freiburg Literary Talk and inaugurates the new series "Laut werden".

Location

Bertoldstraße 17, 79098 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

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