SWEAT. A Musclical

fitness equipment - taken from the world of physical self-optimisation – transforms into music machines on stage.


The concert evening “SWEAT. Songs of Push and Pull” presents pieces for this new category of instruments composed by the multi-disciplinary musicians Güner Kunier, Brigitta Muntendorf, Schneider TM, Sophia Wind and Wooly Aziz and performed by the newly founded SWEAT ENSEMBLE.


In the interactive walk-through installation “SWEAT MACHINES. Ein akustischer Spielplatz” (English: “an acoustic playground”), the audience can make the machine orchestra sing and get their own pulse racing.


The “Songs of Push and Pull” create a soundscape between fitness studio, pop and contemporary composition, a workout and a musical evening in one: To train the muscles now means to play music.


The music machines are operated by the SWEAT Ensemble:
people who are not necessarily musicians but have been unknowingly rehearsing for this moment by exercising on the original machines. They might have never played a concert before, but they have a precise feeling for their tendons and muscles thanks to regular training.


In the accompanying installation “SWEAT MACHINES. Ein akustischer Spielplatz” (English: “an acoustic playground”), the audience is invited to play the machine orchestra. Multilayered narratives unfold for visitors and participants via headphones and text-based media.


The project is inspired by intensive research in Berlin and Luckenwalde in Brandenburg and interwoven with the protein-fuelled history of fitness culture.