"June Fourth Elegies"

Performance tribute to Liuxiaobo

Production: Berlin, Salerno, Suzhou

At least 10,000 unarmed civilians were shot on June 4th, 1989, at Tiananmen Square.
Liu Xiaobo helped negotiate a truce to leave the square in the final hour, saving hundreds. As a Nobel laureate and political prisoner, died in 2017 after years of government’s torture.
Here, four languages depicting extracts from Liu Xiaobo’s “June Forth Elegies” are combined with choreographies by Rosalie Wanka to express different emotions in the poems. Shot in the old city of Salerno (Italy), a temple in Suzhou (China), and against the Berlin Wall.

As new technologies foreshadow the future of State surveillance, Liu Xiaobo's poems reflect the powerlessness of the individual against a State empowered to control past and present with Orwellian finality. Written on successive anniversaries of the Tiananmen Massacre, the "June Fourth Elegies" express a deeply human love and despair.

Director: Ina Chen

Producer: Paul Maidowski, Hong Yang

Choreographer: Rosalia Wanka

Cinematographer: Rebecka Ekholm, Ina Chen

Sound Mixer: Sagir Aliyu

Voice: Marta Gioffrè, Ken Spangberg,

Defu Kong, Ulrich Maidowski, Ina Chen

Other Performers: Liza Chitava, Irene Della Casa

Thanks to: Chongyuan Temple, Suzhou

Fisher Wei, Nook Cafe, Bing Sun

ONE

All I know

death is a mystery unknown

Living, one can’t experience death

But having died

Can’t experience death again.

I can only say

That eyes,

just before dying,

gaze, to be seen by you

hear, to be heard by you

I see you, but who are you?

Ich weiß

Der Tod ist ein Geheimnis, unbekannt

Solange wir leben

Können wir den Tod nicht erleben

Und gestorben. Können wir ihn nicht wieder erleben.

Ich kann nur sagen,

dass Augen,

im Sterben begriffen,

sehen, um von dir gesehen zu werden

hören, um von dir gehört zu werden.

Ich sehe dich. Aber wer bist du?

TWO

一根烟独自燃烧

手指游离于身体

与灵魂构成死角

九十度的垂直

某种梦境血红

为我照亮一条路

我看见你了，你是谁?

A lone cigarette burns

Fingers drift away from the body

Creating a dead angle with the soul

90-degree perpendicular

a certain blood-red dreamscape

and illuminate a way for me

I see you, but who are you?

THREE

Two sets of iron rails

unexpectedly overlap

A moth flaps toward lamp light

an eternal gesture traces your shadow

We already possess nothing

but YOU, still

with a dead grip

seizing the void space of your future

I see you, but who are you?

Improvvisamente due rotaie sovrapposti

Verso le falene di luce

Il gesto eterna

Segui la tua ombra

Non abbiamo nulla

Ma tu, ancora

Strettamente afferrato lo spazio vuoto del tuo futuro

Ti vedo, ma tu chi sei?

FOUR

Ancient city glows anew

This red-haired girl

a lost soul standing

in between the starlight

and the crowds flowing by.

Where heaven and earth meet

For one fleeting moment

this is the only life

Existing.

I see you, but who are you?

Ancienne cité allumée de nouveau

Cette fille aux cheveux roux

Une âme perdue

Debout entre la lumière des étoiles

Et la foule

Où le ciel et la terre se rencontrent

Pour un instant fugace

ceci est

La seule vie existante

FIVE

Humans

used to memorialising tombs as palaces

Before slave owners even existed

Had they already learned

How to kneel with the most exquisite grace

I see you, but who are you?

Gli esseri umani

Son abituati a venerare tombe come palazzi

Prima che esisteva

no proprietari di schiavi già avevano ben imparato

inginocchiarsi con la più squisita grazia

ti vedo, ma chi sei?

SIX

Ah...

save for chains

we have nothing

save for lies

we have nothing

without eyes without ears

without a mouth without skin

without soul without memory

I see you, but who are you?

哎

除了锁链

我们一无所有

除了谎言

我们一无所有

没有眼睛没有耳朵

没有嘴巴没有皮肤

没有心灵没有记忆

我看见你了，你是谁？

FINAL

If my feet are chained, I’ll use my ten fingers to climb to you

If my hands are tied, I’ll use my knees and chin to climb to you

If my legs are smashed, I’ll use my broken bones to support you

If my throat’s strangled, I’ll use my stifled breath to call you

If my mouth’s muzzled, I’ll use the tip of my nose to kiss you

If my teeth are knocked out, I’ll use my toothless mouth to nip you

If my hair’s torn out, I’ll use my bald head to nudge you

If my eyes are plucked out, I’ll use my eye sockets to stare at you

If my body’s eaten away, I’ll use my scent to embrace you

If my heart’s crushed, I’ll use my nerves to remember you

I SEE YOU, BUT, WHAT CAN I DO?

"June Forth Elegies"

Performance tribute to Liuxiaobo

Production: Berlin, Salerno, Suzhou

Director: Ina Chen

Producer: Paul Maidowski, Hong Yang

Choreographer: Rosalia Wanka

Cinematographer: Rebecka Ekholm, Ina Chen

Sound Mixer: Sagir Aliyu

Voice: Marta Gioffrè, Ken Spangberg,

Defu Kong, Ulrich Maidowski, Ina Chen

Other Performers: Liza Chitava, Irene Della Casa

Thanks to: Chongyuan Temple, Suzhou

Fisher Wei, Nook Cafe, Bing Sun

ONE

All I know

death is a mystery unknown

Living, one can’t experience death

But having died

Can’t experience death again.

I can only say

That eyes,

just before dying,

gaze, to be seen by you

hear, to be heard by you

I see you, but who are you?

Ich weiß

Der Tod ist ein Geheimnis, unbekannt

Solange wir leben

Können wir den Tod nicht erleben

Und gestorben. Können wir ihn nicht wieder erleben.

Ich kann nur sagen,

dass Augen,

im Sterben begriffen,

sehen, um von dir gesehen zu werden

hören, um von dir gehört zu werden.

Ich sehe dich. Aber wer bist du?

TWO

一根烟独自燃烧

手指游离于身体

与灵魂构成死角

九十度的垂直

某种梦境血红

为我照亮一条路

我看见你了，你是谁?

A lone cigarette burns

Fingers drift away from the body

Creating a dead angle with the soul

90-degree perpendicular

a certain blood-red dreamscape

and illuminate a way for me

I see you, but who are you?

THREE

Two sets of iron rails

unexpectedly overlap

A moth flaps toward lamp light

an eternal gesture traces your shadow

We already possess nothing

but YOU, still

with a dead grip

seizing the void space of your future

I see you, but who are you?

Improvvisamente due rotaie sovrapposti

Verso le falene di luce

Il gesto eterna

Segui la tua ombra

Non abbiamo nulla

Ma tu, ancora

Strettamente afferrato lo spazio vuoto del tuo futuro

Ti vedo, ma tu chi sei?

FOUR

Ancient city glows anew

This red-haired girl

a lost soul standing

in between the starlight

and the crowds flowing by.

Where heaven and earth meet

For one fleeting moment

this is the only life

Existing.

I see you, but who are you?

Ancienne cité allumée de nouveau

Cette fille aux cheveux roux

Une âme perdue

Debout entre la lumière des étoiles

Et la foule

Où le ciel et la terre se rencontrent

Pour un instant fugace

ceci est

La seule vie existante

FIVE

Humans

used to memorialising tombs as palaces

Before slave owners even existed

Had they already learned

How to kneel with the most exquisite grace

I see you, but who are you?

Gli esseri umani

Son abituati a venerare tombe come palazzi

Prima che esisteva

no proprietari di schiavi già avevano ben imparato

inginocchiarsi con la più squisita grazia

ti vedo, ma chi sei?

SIX

Ah...

save for chains

we have nothing

save for lies

we have nothing

without eyes without ears

without a mouth without skin

without soul without memory

I see you, but who are you?

哎

除了锁链

我们一无所有

除了谎言

我们一无所有

没有眼睛没有耳朵

没有嘴巴没有皮肤

没有心灵没有记忆

我看见你了，你是谁？

FINAL

If my feet are chained, I’ll use my ten fingers to climb to you

If my hands are tied, I’ll use my knees and chin to climb to you

If my legs are smashed, I’ll use my broken bones to support you

If my throat’s strangled, I’ll use my stifled breath to call you

If my mouth’s muzzled, I’ll use the tip of my nose to kiss you

If my teeth are knocked out, I’ll use my toothless mouth to nip you

If my hair’s torn out, I’ll use my bald head to nudge you

If my eyes are plucked out, I’ll use my eye sockets to stare at you

If my body’s eaten away, I’ll use my scent to embrace you

If my heart’s crushed, I’ll use my nerves to remember you

I SEE YOU, BUT, WHAT CAN I DO?