Karl Van Welden / Frederik Croene

"So I looked slowly across the Coire Loch, and began to understand that haste can do nothing with these hills. I knew when I had looked for a long time that I had hardly begun to see."
(Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain)

A felt canvas, as long and as wide as the stage, descends over the pianist, who imperturbably interprets his 'melody'. The felt appears and is slowly forming a sculpture that takes on imperceptibly different forms. Sometimes it looks like an appearing or disappearing mountain landscape, sometimes it transforms into an abstract sculpture that slowly but surely threatens to suffocate the pianist.

The EARTH series within the cycle is used to explore and depict current compelling themes. In EARTH I, Van Welden, together with pianist-composer Frederik Croene, takes climate change as a starting point.