“Wayward Chant “ explores the intersections of despair and beauty through the mobilization of the chorus. In the Gropius Bau’s atrium, a pared-down score unfolds, featuring moving, chanting bodies arranged in detailed formations. This choreography is akin to a hummed hymn, performed in delay, creating a sonic and physical play of dissonance and reverberation. The piece incorporates early Western liturgical sounds intertwined with blues-like melodic and harmonic details.

Opening with a long, dissonant brass chord, “Wayward Chant” serves as an evocative response to a past that lingers. A soliloquy of mourning or a dance of the dead, vocal incantation meets a visually stark and haunting space where the psychic space of (dis)alienation, collective uncertainty, and the poetics of fleshly assembly pulses.