What does the Oder sound like? What do aquatic animals perceive and how does the river change human sensory perceptions? The intermedia performance "OderHive – a multisensory river journey to hear, see and feel" will get to the bottom of these questions on Thursday, January 29, from 5 p.m., at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder). The new music ensemble FrauVonDa// will be a guest in the Logensaal, Logenstraße 11, and invites interested parties to join guests from the worlds of art and science on a sensory journey through the Oder habitat. The event will be held in German and English.
During the performance, the Logensaal becomes a vibrating riverbed on which scientific findings about the perception of fish and artistic fiction are interwoven. The audience meets the scientists and artists from Germany and Poland in open discussion rounds - the artist Claudia van Hasselt has developed the senSONICtalk© discourse format for this purpose. The interactive talks are artistically designed and alternate with sound art, visual art, free improvisation and the compositions of Wojtek Blecharz as an art form in its own right.
Oder disaster as a trigger
Claudia van Hasselt and Nicolas Wiese, artistic directors of the FrauVonDa// ensemble, spent a year following the man-made environmental disaster in the Oder in the summer of 2022, accompanying the research work of the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin. From the extensive research and recordings, the Berlin-based artist group develops an attentive perspective on the hidden senses of life forms in the Oder. In their interactive performance, FrauVonDa// poses the question of how we as a community want to share living spaces. The project is funded by the Fonds Darstellende Künste and the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.
Artists from the arts and sciences
The evening's artistic performers include: the Otucha Collective with singers from Berlin and Szczecin, Schneider TM on guitars and electronics, Roland Fidezius on double bass and electric bass and percussionist Daniel Eichholz. Dramaturgy and texts are by Claudia van Hasselt, Katja Kettner was involved in the dramaturgy. Video art and live electronics by Nicolas Wiese, text and live electronics by Łukasz Jastrubzak. Scientific contributions will be provided by environmental ethicist Dr. Hanna Schudy (Wrocław), aquatic biologists Dr. Gabriela Costea, Dr. Christian Wolter and Dr. Martin Pusch from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin (IGB), and historian Karol Chwastek (Śląskie Centrum Wolności i Solidarności in Katowice).
Moderated by Dr. Anja Hennig (Viadrina) and Dr. Simon Teune (Freie Universität Berlin).
When and where?
Thursday, 29 January 2026 | from 5:00 p.m.
Logensaal of the European University Viadrina
Logenstraße 11, 15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
More info
More information about FrauVonDa// can be found at https://frauvonda.de/
OderHive takes place in cooperation with the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin, the Freie Universität Berlin/Intervening Arts and the Viadrina Institute for European Studies as well as the Viadrina Center B/ORDERS IN MOTION.