the Choir

'The ׳Choir' is a contemporary musical performance by a temporary collective choir with a repertoire of only one song. Each member of the choir is effectively a solo performer performing separately from the group, and they join each other for the first time in a joint performance only at the exhibition space. The show is a multi-participant performance of Alexander Penn's poem "On the Hills of Sheikh Abreik," constructed as a multi-channel video installation: 52 portraits of singers from the Jordan Valley kibbutzim are projected along the walls of the exhibition space as a sequence of close-ups that surround the visitor on all sides. The members of the 'choir' sing Penn's song at the top of their lungs – but their voices are not heard. Their orchestrated singing can only be heard in isolation from the visual image. Thus, the audience in the exhibition becomes acquainted with each of the elements of the performance separately and never as a harmonious unit – as a choir.