Edita Karkoschka

Koschka & Heimprofi is a performance duo based in Arnhem (NL). Since September 2012, they have been working together and experimenting with the combination of live-cinema and music.

Their first project was called ‘Bestattung Heimkehr’: surrealistic stories about nostalgia, loss of home and the melancholic feeling attached to objects that where once so importaned. During a concert performed by Koschka, Heimprofi generated live-video images that were projected directly on Koschka as well as on the walls of the room. The live-video images came into existence by holding objects and images in front of the camera. The bounding element in this project was a book as in; diaries, photo albums, agenda’s, journals etc.. By leafing through the book – in front of the camera – during the performance the audience was taken on a visual journey that connected to Koschka’s stories. Every song was enveloped or supported by a small visual universe that came into existence during the song and collided again. This growing and colliding transported the feeling of movement, not being able to hold on: people observe – images of death – symbols of gathering – abandonment drenched in a strong will and hope.

Koschka’s songs and her lyrics are directly connected to her experience as a foreigner, being torn between two countries. This search for „Heimat“ is a driving force to write and tell her stories. On another level, an inter cultural dialogue starts with the two persons themselves as Krista and Edita both live(d) in foreign countries, from that aspect their personal and artistic development is mixed in terms of relation to place, space and identification. Combined with Burger’s interest in the build surrounding it is exactly this psychological relation to place and space that they want to examine further in their collaboration.

At the moment Koschka & Heimprofi are working on a new performance with the work title ‘Disorientate us for a while’. Imagine the universe as loaf of raisin bread rising in the oven. As the bread bakes, it’s stretching in all directions – like space does. But the raisins aren’t growing, they’re just getting carried away from each other as there’s more bread expanding around and between them. This contradiction of the understanding of our relation of space (it is space that is changing and not the physical us) is what they are focusing on by interviewing people who are living in completely different set-ups of reality and space, but who are connected to each other through the alienation of contemporary ways of socializing and their reality to death. On the basis of their personal stories of the perception of space, combined with research text on the psychological aspect of that we want to create a new performance that deals with sound and objects of a subjective perception of space. In 2016 they’ve been part of the A-I-R  Fill The Room currated by Mirka Farabegoli (art initiative Derde Wal).

Cast-Off Bits Of History lyrics (fragment)
Concrete buildings and piles of trash
You invited me
Flaking and fading and falling away
Like cast-of bits of memory

Hammer and sickle
This is where you hid the gold
Flaking and fading and falling away
Like cast-of bits of history

I will be your witness
Rising from the ruin
Urgently in need of
A deconstructed wisdom

Flaking and fading and falling away
Like cast-of bits of history

” . . . Die Protagonisten: Tinte und Büttenpapier, ein Spielzeughaus, Karton, eine Wunderkerze, Alufolie, Pflanzen, ausgeschnittene Papierfiguren und vieles mehr. Neben der Videokamera leistet ein guter alter Overhead-Projektor einen wichtigen Beitrag. Sich ausbreitende Tintenflecke bedrohen das Haus, eine Wunderkerze blitzt wie eine Sonne durch Karton, Pflanzen wachsen wie Scherenschnitte über die Projektionsfläche und die Wand des Raumes hinauf, der rote Kreis für Japan dehnt sich aus von Hand gemalt und taucht Edita in rotes Zauberlicht, während sie von Japan träumt. . . .”
Festival Schmiede, Salzburg Hallein 2012 (AT)

” . . . Die erste gemeinsame Performance der bildenden Künstlerin Krista Burger und der Sängerin und Pianistin Edith Karkoschka ist eine magisch-stimmungsvolle Live-Show. Während Edith Karkoschka mit Popsongs, gebrochenen Pianoklängen und Elektronika experimentiert, lässt sich Krista Burger von der Musik inspirieren und zeichnet assoziative Bilder, die auf die Bühne projiziert werden: so erscheinen Häuserfassaden, Regentropfen und Sonnenstrahlen, auf dem Rücken der Pianistin und Sängerin ranken sich Blumen empor, ein Gefecht von Linien und Netzen entsteht. Die Zuschauer erleben live, wie die mal elektronisch verstärkten, mal puren Klänge und die Live-Video- Projektionen sich gegenseitig beeinfussen. . .” –
Helios Theater, Hamm 2012 (DE)

” . . . Koschka is one of them . . . she blends the hues : singing folk tunes with a loop station, marrying a fragile song to the distortion of her keyboard, her voice alternating between the softness of a little girl and the strength of a mum, taking the audience by the hand to make them explore what she managed to synthesize from her musical culture and experience of life. It is a travel through impressions and time. … Slow motion illustrations and sudden explosions of colours and textures gave the visual pace to the soundtrack of our evening. Drawings from Russian tales met Chinese shadow puppetry, PiYing. Welcome to their world. The rooms was a gum bubble and none could define its exact taste. The audience just held their breaths until the next song. . .”
Jérome Shélhôm Navet-Cintract, Tapis Noir Leipzig 2012 (DE)

. . .„Koschka und Heimprofi“ ist sie ganz besonders gefordert, denn ihre Partnerin Krista Burger arbeitet im Hintergrund. Burger steuert Live-Video-Projektionen bei, die von Ediths Gesang und Klavierspiel angeregt werden. Projiziert werden sie auf Ediths Rücken, auf das Klavier, an dem sie sitzt und in den Raum darüber. Die Musik beeinflusst die Projektionen, die Projektionen wiederum beeinflussen das Spiel, bei dem Edith auch elektronische Verzerrungen des Klaviers nutzt, die sie selbst steuern muss. . . „Krista benutzt bereits gedrehte Filme, die vom Laptop kommen“, sagt Edith. „Die vermischt sie mit Bildern, die sie live filmt; und dann benutzt sie auch noch den Overheadprojektor, auf dem sie zum Beispiel grafische Elemente einbringt.“ . . . ”
Interview Südkurier, Friedrichshafen 2012 (DE)

“Check out this stellar, beautiful piano-led track that showcases a stunning, evocative vocal and a heart-wrenching mood. This is something so very, very special. This will knock you for six. Damn.” – Soundsphere Magazine 2018

„…For nearly seven minutes, the Berlin-based singer-songwriter will leave you in complete awe and in utter paralysis because it is one of the most beautiful things you will hear not today, not tomorrow, not even this week, but this entire year. It is simply extravagantly gorgeous…“ The Revue CA

„…Ein zartes Piano, ein brummender Synthie und geschichteter Gesang – mehr braucht Koschka nicht für ihren Song „The Flood“. Sie singt davon, wie ein einziger Moment das Leben eines Menschen für immer verändern kann. Und als wäre es die einfachste Sache der Welt, zieht sie damit den Hörer komplett in ihren Bann…“ Detektor FM GER

„…we couldn’t wait to get to grips with her exciting new solo material. And so, we’re thrilled to introduce KOSCHKA solo debut ‘The Flood’ a beautifully minimalist single, which is out now via Part Du Decor Records… Inspired after a return to Berlin, following a long period in the Netherlands, there is a detectable sense of ‘Heimweh’ or homesickness at play behind the vocal performance, imbuing the
track with a tangible sense of sincerity. Bittersweet, and melancholic, ‘The Flood’ is a compelling debut’.“ Earthly Pleasures Blog UK

„Cast Glass, an excellent young Dutch band that has mastered the art of low-key musicianship […] “ 

Volkskrant

Cast Glass is an art-pop band around composer Marco Mlynek and producer Marc Alberto and based in the Netherlands. Currently they’re working on new compositions from within a new formation.

In their debut release Cast Glass EP (rel. sept 2014), a collection of songs from 2011-2013 performed by a twelve-piece ensemble, Edita Karkoschka was the voice of the main band amongst Marco Mlynek (piano/ synth/composition), Marc Alberto (live electronics/EWI/sounddesign), Iris van der Ende (harp) and Max Hilpert (acoustic&electronical drums). The record resulted from a production process spanning that period, starting from arrangements of their songs for string-quartett and woodwinds. Produced and reworked by Marc Alberto into intricate concrete-like collages of live acoustic performances, quirky sounds and analog electronics. The dense production and orchestration does not serve technical display, it creates a stand-alone sound world that allows for new discoveries every re-listen. The child-like lyrics sung with soft vocal delivery that lights and opens up this world with a note of playfulness.

„[…]Cast Glass sings ingenious songs accompanied by extraordinary instrumentation of wind- controlled synthesizer, drums and harp.[…]“

NRC Next

Cast Glass – Ballroom (Official Music Video)
from Chris de Krijger on Vimeo.

Cast Glass – Grow Old With from Cast Glass on Vimeo.