SATISFACTIONACTION (UA)

It is a collective media meditation: colorful foam is gently sliced, a filthy carpet is painstakingly cleaned, a hydraulic press crushes various objects. The useless, the absurd repetition, the “everything fits perfectly” moments are perceived as deeply satisfying—and stand in stark contrast to an increasingly complex reality. This internet phenomenon, known as “Oddly Satisfying,” with millions of video views across various platforms, becomes the central theme of the music theater installation SATISFACTIONACTION.

After all, most people know that unexpected sense of comfort in everyday actions—when everything suddenly fits, the trunk is packed perfectly, the train connection is made down to the minute, the pimple is successfully popped. What mechanisms trigger this feeling of satisfaction, and what are we willing to do to achieve it? Do these experiences function only on an innocent, neurological level—or do they also carry a social dimension, involving norms, success and failure, belonging and exclusion? And doesn’t schadenfreude over the misfortune of an annoying colleague—or belonging to a group that implies the exclusion of others—also fulfill this need?

In SATISFACTIONACTION, a space is created where satisfaction can be experienced immersively and celebrated collectively, where the audience is engaged on a multisensory level. At the same time, the piece raises the question of whether an honestly escapist communal moment can create a counterbalance to the ongoing feelings of crisis and overwhelm. Is collective satisfaction merely an escape from a burning world—or does it also open up spaces where reality can be renegotiated?

Composer Max Andrzejewski merges contemporary music with influences from minimalism and experimental jazz. As a percussionist rooted in improvised music, he also performs within the eight-member ensemble of SATISFACTIONACTION. The ensemble includes members of the Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop as well as other musicians artistically connected to Andrzejewski. Together with the singers from the Vocantare choir and within the choreography of Sylvana Seddig, all performers move scenically through the spatial and video installation by visual artist Lukas Zerbst. A total composition emerges—shaped by overlapping layers that drift around one another in time and space—resulting in constellations that make the underlying mechanisms of our need for fulfillment tangible and reflective.

CAST
Mari Sawada (violin), Grégoire Simon (viola), Isabelle Klemt (cello), James Banner (double bass), Annie Bloch (guitar/portative organ), Arne Braun (guitar), Marco Mlynek (guitar), Max Andrzejewski (percussion)

Also featuring: the choir VOX BONA (in Bonn) and members of the choir VOCANTARE (in Berlin)

Composition, Concept, Musical and Artistic Direction: Max Andrzejewski
Spatial Design, Set, Scenography and Live Camera: Lukas Zerbst
Choreography: Sylvana Seddig
Choir Direction: Karin Freist-Wissing (Bonn), Yannick Wittmann & Philipp Wernemann (Berlin)
Dramaturgy: Maria Buzhor
Sound Design: Jeremy Nothman
Lighting Design: Martin Beeretz
Production: YMUSIC


Funded by the Capital Cultural Fund (Hauptstadtkulturfonds)

A co-production by Max Andrzejewski with Deutsche Oper Berlin and Beethovenfest Bonn