The ALLIGATOR GOZAIMASU collective
The collective is based on close networking of artists and musicians. In 2015, there was a first attempt at international exchange, which gave rise to Alligator Gozaimasu. The foundation for this musical-artistic collective was laid by Stephanie Mu:ller and Klaus Erika Dietl through mutual visits of musicians in Munich and the Japanese partner city of Sapporo. Over the years, artists and musicians from various other places, cities, and countries have joined. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the exchange has continued online, with Alligator Gozaimasu exploring digital forms of collectivity and community. Sound and text fragments are exchanged through various channels, and playing and recording sessions take place in online spaces. Those willing to question their own listening and production habits and embrace new experiences are invited to participate.
Since August 2020, nine complete albums have been digitally released as a result. A tenth album is planned for July 2024, with proceeds benefiting the civil sea rescue organization Sea Watch e.V.
In a time when political and physical borders are particularly pronounced, the multifaceted collective consciously frees itself from them: At Alligator Gozaimasu, a diverse range of musical genres interact and open up to each other. Electronic music is reinterpreted with instruments like the dulcimer, zither, and accordion, while queer dream-pop and contemporary vocal performance mix with raw noise mantras – „when in doubt, contradict.“ Alligator Gozaimasu brings together seven-year-old music enthusiasts with eighty-year-olds who continue to experiment tirelessly. Professional musicians and artists collaborate with people who have only recently discovered the joy of playing and producing together.
At the „Alligator:Go! Festival“ in the summer of 2021, nearly 40 artists from Munich, the surrounding area, and other places, cities, and countries came together. The festival, which took place on the IMPORT EXPORT open-air stage, in the MUCCA hall, at public places like Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, and as a livestream, was presented by the London music magazine „The Wire.“ Since then, the Alligator Gozaimasu cosmos has been bubbling. Smaller satellites events are constantly happening.
In July 2022, as part of the anniversary celebrations for „50 Years of the 1972 Olympics,“ there were small sound oases on the Olympiabergl.
In September 2023, Ian Jakab created a platform for site-specific interventions with his DJ-BIKE at the Wasserpilzbrunnen at Frauenplatz.
Recently, the video „Quoi Que Tu Dis“ was shown at the anniversary edition of the International Short Film Festival in Oberhausen, a festival that qualifies for Oscar participation.
In April 2024, the sonified bee colony of the collective opened the festival „Klangmanifeste“ in Vienna.
Currently, sound artists from the ALLIGATOR GOZAIMASU collective are collaborating with the „Dawn Chorus.“ This citizen science and art project, initiated by the Bavarian Natural History Museum with BIOTOPIA LAB and the Bavarian Association for Bird Protection, invites people worldwide to collect bird songs for biodiversity research.
UCOMPING * exhibition and festival at Kunstpavillon
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ALLIGATOR GOZAIMASU
at the Kunstpavillon im Alten Botanischen Garten
Sophienstr. 7A, 80333 Munich
Exhibition „Interval & Chance“ | June 21st to July 14th, 2024 | Opening: June 20th, 7 PM Opening hours | Tuesday to Saturday: 1 PM to 7 PM | Sunday: 11 AM to 5 PM
Free admission
Festival „Picknick Voices & Noises“ | July 6th and 7th, 2024
Saturday, July 6th: 6 PM to 11 PM | Sunday, July 7th: 2 PM to 8 PM
Admission by donation
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ALLIGATOR GOZAIMASU – at the Kunstpavillon
From June 21st to July 14th, 2024, the ALLIGATOR GOZAIMASU collective will be hosted at the Art Pavilion in the Old Botanical Garden. Within the ambiance of the „Interval & Chance“ exhibition, on July 6th and 7th, 2024, „Picknick Voices & Noises“ will also take place, a two-day festival for experimental music and performance. The exhibition and the festival are based on a close networking of musicians and visual artists.
ALLIGATOR GOZAIMASU (pronounced: go-sai-maas) is an open field for collective artistic encounters. The foundation for this international collective was laid by Klaus Erika Dietl and Stephanie Müller in 2015 within the underground scene of the Japanese partner city Sapporo.
The name ALLIGATOR GOZAIMASU is a play on words, inspired by the Japanese „arigato gozaimsu,“ which means „Thank you very much,“ but with a wink and a bite.
INTERVAL & CHANCE – The Exhibition
The exhibition „Interval & Chance“ reflects work processes, showcases found objects, self-built music, communication devices, an archive of relics from past performances, fragments, and unembellished aspects of the creative process „behind the scenes.“
Collectives of artists, who are in constant international contact, are continually challenged to maintain a vibrant collaboration. While some collective members have the privilege of freely operating in a productive environment, political, economic, and social crises complicate the creative process for others.
For the Munich core team of the Alligator Gozaimasu collective, it is important not to tire of communication, in order to deepen existing connections even across distances.
Against this backdrop, online satellites were set up as part of the preparations. Artists living far away (such as in Japan, Indonesia, Jordan) engage in exchange with each other and develop contributions. Local and regional artists connect to these satellites and use the works of the online satellites as productive resonance fields.
The exhibition will be opened on Thursday, June 20th at 7 PM by Karen Modrei. In her performance, the knitting machine becomes an instrument. The code of sounds is live-translated into a knitting work.
PICKNICK VOICES & NOISES – The Festival
The Alligators and other artists will be experienced live on July 6th and 7th, 2024, as the collective musical body expresses itself in the „Picknick Voices & Noises“ festival. The two-day festival is financially supported as part of the pop program funding by the Munich Cultural Department. Admission is by donation.
The indoor and outdoor space of the Art Pavilion in the Old Botanical Garden will be utilized as a resonance space. Here, pop meets sound art, classical music, new music, performance, dance, and queer feminist DIY punk spirit.
The powerful in the quiet – sometimes purely acoustic, sometimes delicately amplified – becomes a collective experience at „Picknick Voices & Noises.“ Central questions here are: What windows open up when pop music works with the tonality of the location in a site-specific manner? How can the breaking point between historical baggage and contemporary spirit of experimentation become a creative friction surface?
„The Witches Of Westend“ redesign every performance and tailor it individually to the performance location. Thus, each concert is unique. The feminist women’s choir was founded in 2013 by Pola Dobler, who is also part of the band „Su Yono.“
INGA enchants the Old Botanical Garden with experimental chanson-pop. She searches for the missing tones and plays with the edges. In her home recording melodies, she effortlessly explores her environment and socio-political questions. She releases her albums on the Munich label Trikont.
Andrea Lesjak, founder of the music construction site KOLLABS at the Munich City Museum, establishes contact with the historical stone floor and sets it in motion with her lithophone. Martin Krejci from the Institute for Performance Decline and Contemplation infuses his danceable noise-pop compositions with historical voices transmitted via cassette recorders.
The bees, which have become increasingly rare, also join in with ALLIGATOR GOZAIMASU. On a solitary farm in Upper Bavaria’s Großhub, there is a bee colony with multiple microphones. From there, beekeeper and sound artist Mucho Pitchu transmits the live sounds to the Art Pavilion. There stands a beehive with the discarded combs from the previous year. Smell and sound – the animals‘ forms of communication – are made perceptible in the form of a beehive equipped with speakers.
Additionally, there is a premiere to celebrate at „Picknick Voices & Noises.“ Munich programmer and noise musician Thomas Mayer, in collaboration with artists Klaus Erika Dietl, Stephanie Müller, and Masako Ohta, has developed the sound app „ALLIGATOR BYTES.“ This will be presented for the first time at the Art Pavilion and subsequently made freely accessible to the interested public. With the app, which accesses the smartphone’s sensor data, our bodies become musical instruments. Together with percussionist and choreographer Ángela Muñoz Martínez and wheelchair dancer and activist Sema Schäffer, Thomas Mayer, Klaus Erika Dietl, and Masako Ohta are developing a site-specific, sound-based dance performance that makes the conditions and irregularities of the Art Pavilion palpable. The movements of the dancers influence the sound modulation.
Special thanks go to Ian Jakab. At the festival, he performs together with Lina Zylla. In good weather, he provides a stage for the participating musicians with his DJ-BIKE on the outdoor area in front of the Art Pavilion.
To conclude the festival, visitors are invited to listen contemplatively. The harp sounds of Melis Çom weave through the sound carpet of Flurin Mück (drums, percussion) and Mathias Götz (trombone).
Mirca Lotz accompanies both festival days with a culinary picnic performance. As an organizer, curator, and artist, Mirca Lotz also focuses on interdisciplinary projects and special event locations, including the legendary „innen.außen.raum“ festival, which was implemented in 2020 under the strictest COVID-19 regulations on the grounds of the public swimming pool „Prinzregentenbad“.
THE SMALL & THE MANY – The Artists
Exhibition „Interval & Chance“ with contributions and impulses from:
Max Amling, Maria Berauer (The Hercules And Leo Case), Ruslan Boyarin, Stefan Brandstifter, Sabine Bretschneider (suolocco), Ulli Ball, Cup&Saucers (Miyuki Mori, Mari Watanabe), Klaus Erika Dietl, Rebecca Doubledecca, Pete Dowling, Thomas Glatz, Helena Hartmann, Ian Jakab, Jo, Elisabeth Anna Maria Kaiser, Ramsey Kattan, Anton Kaun aka rumpeln, Marino Kobayashi, Martin Krejci aka Institute for Performance Decline and Contemplation, Gerhard Lassen, Licia Lumen, Justine Maxelon, Djibril Mbow, Deidra Mesayu, Karen Modrei, Stephanie Müller aka Rag*Treasure, Chris Münster (In:Ex), Christian Nothaft, Masako Ohta, Mucho Pitchu with sonified bee colony, Inga Riedel, Iñaki Rocha Echevarría, Mikio Saito, Patrick Schimanski, Lisa Simpson aka Agente Costura, Thorsten Soltau, Hias Stadler, Aoi Swimming, Vladi Taranovych, Miu Terada aka OTACO, Andreas Ullrich (suolocco), Stephan Vogt, Peter Wacha aka DJ Upstart, White Hot Pants (Marino Kobayashi, Rina Ono), Sigi Wiedemann, Lina Zylla … to be continued
Festival „Picknick Voices & Noises“ with:
Melis Çom, Klaus Erika Dietl, DJ-BIKE, Pola Dobler with the choir „The Witches Of Westend,“ Stefan Dorner, Sebastian Giussani, Mathias Götz, Ian Jakab aka peluche, INGA, Martin Krejci aka Institute for Performance Decline and Contemplation, Andrea Lesjak, Thomas Mayer aka residuum, Monobob (Karen Afeldt, Stefan Afeldt, Maryvonne Porwol, Markus Rhein), Flurin Mück, Stephanie Müller aka Rag*Treasure, Ángela Muñoz Martínez, Masako Ohta, Mucho Pitchu, Sema Schäffer, Gerhard Wicho, Lina Zylla, Fabian Zweck