The Lovers
Installation for sound, industrial megaphones, paint, mesh veils, 2014
Commissed by the Esker Foundation, The Lovers is a composition for nine bells and nine voices. The sound of church bells morphs into the sound of men and boys mimicking the ringing of bells. Their calls become words that slowly spell out a message of nationhood and forgetting: The homeland will forget the heroes / the heroes will forget the lovers / the lovers will forget the homeland. The piece was created in the context of Nemer’s greater artistic interest in AIDS and memory cultures.
The Lovers was composed with Johannes Malfatti and features the voices of tenors Gunnar Brandt-Sigurdsson and Michael Berner, baritone Arnout Lems and three trebles from the Calgary Boys' Choir. Their calls are broadcast from gilded megaphones, some draped in mesh veils designed and produced by visual composer Michiel Keuper. The first installation of The Lovers took place in a public park in Calgary, Canada, from sundown until midnight. Aspects of the creation process of The Lovers, as well as an interview with Nemer is part of a short documentary video produced by Nuit Blanche Calgary.