The film “The Sound of Music” is a source of inspiration for the Styrian-international artist formation The Loose Collective to reflect on national identity and belonging.

When it comes to safeguarding international competitiveness, agencies are commissioned today to develop a marketable image for a country and its people. The so-called process of nation branding attempts to cram it all into an identity habitat devised on the drawing-board.

“The Sound of Music” counts among the most successful films in cinema history. For the past fifty years, the story of the Trapp family has unintentionally been contributing to Austria’s worldwide nation branding. With numerous references to the Austrian and German Heimatfilm, this US American musical film has propagated romantic notions of Austria, presenting green mountain pastures, aristocratic architecture and charming children making music under the guidance of a singing nun. Largely unknown in Austria, “The Sound of Music” transports a kitschy and easily recognisable image of the country to the world.

Against this backdrop of ideas, The Loose Collective assumes a postnational stance, throwing together text samples, choreographies, technicolor images, songs and souvenirs to create a complex patchwork piece. Caught in the treacherous chasm between representation and self-perception, the fundamental question that arises is: what is a nation anyway? And why should we accept an artificial, arbitrarily imposed identity when we find it embarrassing or alienating?

Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Guenther Berger
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Alexander Deutinger
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Alexander Gottfarb
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Hanna Hollmann
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Thomas Kasebacher
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Anna Maria Nowak
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Marta Navaridas
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Stephan Sperlich
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Teresa Vittucci
Lichtregie: Roman Streuselberger
Kostüme: Hanna Hollmann
Künstlerin / Künstler / Gruppe: The Loose Collective

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