Event

In 1833, Sieglinde Stern, a British professional weaver and amateur engineer, invented the first electromagnetic pickup and, with it, the first electrically amplified stringed instrument. A hundred years later – in 1933 – her invention made it possible to manufacture the first electric guitar, which went on to become one of the most popular and widely played instruments in the history of Western music. But today, another 150 years later, no one plays this instrument anymore! What led to the rise and fall of the electric guitar? And who was its inventor, Sieglinde Stern, who was erased from history only to be reborn – of all people – as David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust?

In three parts, composer and intermedia artist Marko Ciciliani presents this fictional history of the electric guitar, taking the audience on a journey between imagination and reality. You can look forward to a performance-lecture and a multimedia concert featuring live electronics, accompanied by three guitarists on video.

Following the performance, there will be a discussion with Ekkehard Windrich, artistic director of the KlangForum Heidelberg.
The audiovisual installation WHY FRETS? – Tombstone is on display in the DAI Library.

Marko Ciciliani is a composer, intermedia artist, and performer. His artistic work focuses on the composition of performative electronic music, mostly in audiovisual contexts, combined with interactive videos, lighting design, and laser graphics. His experimental music has been performed in over 40 countries.

Ciciliani is a professor of computer music composition and sound design at the Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.

Our "Ways of Listening" festival is hosted by legendary interviewer Paul Holdengräber and Hannah Arendt expert Samantha Rose Hill.

The intellectual Paul Holdengräber was the founding director of Onassis Los Angeles. Prior to that, he led a seminal cultural series at the New York Public Library, where he conducted conversations with renowned figures such as Patti Smith and Werner Herzog.

Samantha Rose Hill is the author of Hannah Arendt (2021) and Hannah Arendt’s Poems (2023). She teaches at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research and the University of the Underground. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Aeon, and LitHub, among others.

As part of the "Ways of Listening" festival

In cooperation with the Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e.V. association and the KlangForum Heidelberg