CRIPPLED SYMMETRIES

patterns in contemporary music

Festival and seven international editions in 2025/2026

With works by

Morton Feldman (USA) , Tine Surel Lange (NOR), Fang-Yi Lin (TWN), Tristan Perich (USA), AnA Maria Rodriguez (ARG), Zesses Seglias (GRC), Petra Strahovnik (SVN), Juan Felipe Waller (MEX), Eunseon Yu (KOR), Gyu-Bong Yi (KOR) and the Peruvian composers’ collective Retama with Claudia Sofía Alvarez (PER), Wendolyne Guerra Alvarez (PER), Darlene Neyra Leon (PER) and Yemit Ledesma Portilla (PER)

Ensemble KNM Berlin (DEU) / Cube Band (TWN) / Ensemble 0 (FRA) / guest musicians from Korea

CRIPPLED SYMMETRIES – taken in plural from Morton Feldman’s piece »Crippled Symmetry« – is an international concert series and festival by Ensemble KNM Berlin that will take place in 2025/2026 in Berlin, Athens, Busan (South Korea), Kiel, Lima (Peru) and Nantou (Taiwan). The project focuses on contemporary music in an intercultural context based on re.petitions, re.cyclings and re.settings.

The concert series pays tribute to Morton Feldman’s 100th birthday, spotlighting his late work, »Crippled Symmetry«. Symmetry and asymmetry, repetition and renewal – the artists in the series encounter Feldman’s compositional ideas from local perspectives. Drawing inspiration from their home regions – such as from Korean shamanistic dance culture, Peruvian indigenous traditions, and readings in Taiwan’s formerly suppressed native language – they translate rituals and ceremonies into contemporary musical contexts. In this way, Crippled Symmetries highlights the sonic potential of instruments associated with ceremonial customs from various cultures. In their current and new works, the artists also reflect on repetition and cycles in relation to the concepts of upcycling, 1-bit sound and introspection. Additionally, they take a critical look at the human influence on natural landscapes.  

The concert series kicks off with the concert performance »…make beauty out of drebis…» by the Argentine /Mexican performer duo Ana Maria Rodriguez and Juan Felipe Waller at Busan in Korea followed by the Berlin Prologue with Morton Feldman’s »Crippled Symmetry« in December 2025 at Villa Elisabeth, Berlin. In 2026 the concert series will be continued with guest performances as part of MaerzMusik 2026 and the Crippled Symmetries Festival at Villa and Church Elisabeth in Berlin in April 2026 followed by performances in Athens, Kiel, Lima and Nantou.

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Crippled Symmetries is a project by Ensemble KNM Berlin in cooperation with Busan International Contemporary Music Festival, Department of Musicology of the Free University of Berlin, Frequenz_Festival Kiel, Goethe-Institut Lima, Greek National Opera Alternative Stage, Kultur Büro Elisabeth, MaerzMusik / Berliner Festspiele and Studio Acht Taipei.
Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation). Funded by the Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media).
With the kind support of the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.
Media Partner: Jungle World