We are happy to invite you to the closing of Georgie Brinkman’s Open Letter ‘Brekekekéx koáx koáx’. For the occasion Brinkman’s piece will be performed live by vocalist Elisenda Pujals and harpist Louise Ubbels.

‘Brekekekéx koáx koáx!’ is a song that acts as a futile, ritualistic attempt to resurrect an extinct (in the British wild) species. The last known colony of the Common Tree Frog (Hyla Arborea) in the British wild lived in Hilltop Pond, Dorset. In 1988 the last male was found far away from the pond calling a lonely ‘Brekekekéx koáx koáx!’ for a non-existent female. Using astrological predictions for 1988 as an attempt to retroactively foresee the extinction, this new, ritual song rewrites the lyrics of the oldest surviving secular love song in the English language, ‘Bryd one Brere’.

Georgie Brinkman is an artist and researcher whose work treads a precarious ground between science-fiction and science-fact (and the muddy sludge in between), to ask what it means to be human in the age of extinction. By casting other-than-humans as leading protagonists in her films, writing and installations she seeks to pull apart the anthropocentric perception of a division between nature and culture. 

Elisenda Pujals is a singer, music therapist and teacher based in The Hague. She incorporates her knowledge of extended vocal techniques and alternative means of tone-production, based on her ongoing research into the contemporary repertoire. She feels at home around improvisation as much as with written repertoire. She recently premiered Walking Opera by Ruta Vitkauskaite in Aarhus and London, and has collaborated with such contemporary leading ensembles as Slagwerk Den Haag and VocalLAB. 

Louise Ubbels is a Dutch musician, music therapist and teacher. She studied World Performance at the prestigious East 15 Acting School in the UK, after which she performed both as an actor and music director at the Camden Fringe, Paris Fringe and the Brazilian Embassy. Having moved back to the Netherlands, she recently completed the MA Music Therapy at Codarts and is now working at an elderly care home for people with dementia and psychiatric disorders. She also teaches piano to young children, including students with special needs.   

The finissage starts at 18:00 outside of our window. Registration is not required.