A LETTER TO EUROPE

On September 20, interdisciplinary artist Nazanin Noori presents the premiere of A LETTER TO EUROPE, a new spoken word opera commissioned by Bergen Kunsthall based on a poem by poet and playwright Athena Farrokhzad addressing migration, borders, and displacement in contemporary Europe. Fragments of Earthly Verses by Forugh Farrokhzad recur throughout the performance as a poetic refrain. Combining voice, percussion, and electronics, the work features a score composed by Noori together with musician and composer Andrea Belfi.

Drawing on the structure of a wedding, the performance brings together a classical Iranian singer, Samin Ghorbani, two spoken-word performers, Kate Strong and Noori herself, and two drummers, Andrea Belfi and Ludwig Wandinger. Alternating between spoken word and songs, the work reflects the movement between affective and political registers of both poems, while the drummers establish a counter-structure of rhythm and control. The electronic score adds a further layer, echoing the rigid frameworks of institutional systems.

Taking the myth of Europa from Greek mythology as a point of departure, the work translates themes of coercion and contested belonging into a staged configuration. The mythological reference operates as a structural parallel rather than narrative illustration, situating Farrokhzad’s critique of Europe within a longer history of forced movement and asymmetrical power relations.

Nazanin Noori ( نازنین نوری‎) is an artist who lives and works in Berlin. Her interdisciplinary work includes sound art, composition, live and lecture performance, installation, direction, and text. With a formal education in theatre, film and media studies, Noori addresses the merging of sound, space, sculpture and post-dramatic poetry, focusing on atmospheric narratives. Her hypnoacoustic compositions extend into simultaneous layered Doom Electronics, culminating in a form she has coined AMBIENT HARDCORE. In 2016, she began her work with compositions for theatre and art film. Her debut album ‘FARCE’, published on the enmossed label in 2020, was followed by her 54-minute sound piece ‘HAAL’, which premiered in 2021 at the Berliner Festspiele exhibition ‘The Sun Machine Is Coming Down’ at the ICC and was subsequently released by Deutschlandfunk Kultur.

Nazanin Noori’s artworks were on view at EIGEN + ART Lab, Auto Italia, Akademie der Künste, CCA Berlin, M Leuven, House of World Cultures, Eye Filmmuseum, and Transmediale. Her performances have been staged at Martin-Gropius-Bau, Villa Massimo, Berghain, Schirn Kunsthalle, Schauspielhaus Zürich, La Gaîté Lyrique, CTM Festival and ICA London. She had artist residencies at Junge Akademie der Künste, Rupert and Callie’s. Her theatre works were staged at Maxim Gorki Theatre, Deutsches Theatre, and Berliner Ensemble. Her sound scenarios have been presented in international radio stations, such as Mutant Radio, Deep House Tehran and Refuge Worldwide, where she holds a residency since 2021. Nazanin Noori was awarded with the ars viva prize for Visual Arts (2026).