Inverse – A civic ritual for Dresden

Score:
"All clocks in public space stand still. All of them.
For one hour. Once a year. Every year.
Then, when summer time changes to winter time at the end of October. That hour at three in the night can be art. Every year again. Every year a crack in reality that is open to you:
Stay awake till after midnight. Go near a public clock before three o’clock.
Wait for it to stop.
Ring in the time freed from the clock with one of the enclosed compositions. Find your own rhythm. Maybe drink a glass of water or a clear schnapps. Maybe you celebrate the hour without a name with friends, maybe with strangers, maybe alone."

The ritual of INVERSE was developed for the city of Dresden and celebrated for five years 2016–2020 in the Zwinger, where for many years the reference point of Saxon time was located. Here, in the middle of the night and surrounded by lights, citizens gathered in front of the carillon made of Meissen porcelain, surrounded by baroque party buildings, excluded from everyday public sphere. A fifteen-minute countdown announced the hour without a name. Then the hands stopped and the premiere of a commissioned composition began:

Saskia Bladt: Dedication. Played by Richard Röbel on October 30, 2016
Alexey Retinsky: Untitled. Played by Richard Röbel on October 29, 2017
Didier Rotella: Heart Mechanics. Played by Richard Röbel on October 28, 2018
Olga Bochikhina: Listen. Played by Richard Röbel on October 27, 2019
Christoph Israel and Meret Becker: Variation on If I May Make a Wish* (October 25, 2020)

Project website is http://inverse-dresden.eu
All five soundtracks are available on vinyl from the Berlin art book publisher The Green Box.