Elaine Mitchener

"On Being Human as Praxis" is the world premiere of a performance by the English singer Elaine Mitchener, recorded at the Donaueschingen Music Days in October 2020. It was the only performance we were able to film that year; shortly afterwards, the festival was cancelled due to the pandemic.

The performance takes its title from Sylvia Wynter: On Being Human as Praxis, a critical genealogy of works by the Jamaican feminist writer and cultural theorist, edited by Katherine McKittrick. Inspired by Wynter's insights into how race, place and time shape our understanding of what it means to be human, Elaine Mitchener invited five composers to respond creatively to Wynter's rebellious reconceptualisation of the human. In the performance, Mitchener creates a memorial to George Floyd, whose killing by police in Minneapolis in 2020 sparked worldwide protests against racism and police violence.

Elaine Mitchener was joined by her long-time collaborator, the Vietnamese-American choreographer Dam Van Huynh, together with members of his dance company and the ensemble MAM.manufaktur für aktuelle musik.

One hundred years of new departures, discoveries,