Earth Workers Requiem/Jubilate


2024

November 9, 2024 - March 9, 2025
Het Noordbrabants Museum, 's-Hertogenbosch

Earth Workers Requiem/Jubilate consists of a musical composition by Micha Hamel and an installation by Jonas Staal that honors human and non-human Earth Workers across deep pasts, presents and futures.

Hamel’s musical composition, inspired by geological epochs, features a six-hour electronic score interwoven with live instrumental and vocal interventions. Staal’s installation comprises a fossil landscape formed by pyramids of motor oil and ammonite fossils representing the earth’s ancient past and woven banners depicting rare life forms that thrive in climate catastrophe: the impoverished fossil archives of the future.

Human animals are not the only laborers on Earth—nonhuman animals, plants and bacteria work too. This collective labor has created a livable biosphere over vast periods of time. As writer Radha D’Souza notes, we are all earth workers. As an expansion of the final line of the Communist Manifesto, Earth Workers Requiem Jubilate calls for unity not only among workers of all lands, but also of workers across all times.

Earth Workers Requiem/Jubilate commemorates (requiem) and celebrates (jubilate) our collective past and future as earth workers during this critical moment for our ecosystems where our collective extinction has been turned into a profit model for the elites of fossil capitalism. It serves as a rallying cry for earth workers of all times to unite in the struggle for a regenerated biosphere—a sphere of life—for all.

  • PROJECT BY

    Micha Hamel and Jonas Staal


  • PROJECT TEAM

    Micha Hamel (composer); Jonas Staal (artist) ; Nadine Gouders (researcher and studio coordinator); Paul Kuipers (architect); Remco van Bladel (graphic design); Tom Estrera III (animal visualizations); Ruben Hamelink (photography, film and editing); Anja Nagelkerke (light design); Tomas Valeĉka (sound design and engineering)


  • MUSICIANS

    Koen Kaptijn (trombone); Khadija Massaoudi (vocals); Inez Nuijten (performer); Jasper Schweppe (vocals); Maria Goetze (voice); Capella Brabant (choir, voices)


  • NOVEMBER MUSIC

    Geeske Coebergh (creative producer); Maarten Blom (sound advisor)


  • HET NOORDBRABANTS MUSEUM

    Bertie van der Sangen; Eva van Gool; Floris van Alebeek; Ingrid Sonderen; Jacqueline Grandjean; Joost Mellink; Kara Smits; Laura Limburg; Massimo Arena; Pieter Donkers-Boersma; Puck Baars; Ramon van Pelt; Ranti Tjan; Sander van der Donk; Tessel Peperkamp; Ton van der Heijden; Wendel Visser; Yvette Vromans; Yvonne Keulaars


  • COMMISSIONED BY

    Het Noordbrabants Museum and November Music / Bosch Requiem


  • PARTNERS

    Provincie Noord-Brabant; Gemeente ’s-Hertogenbosch; Mondriaan Fonds; het Cultuurfonds; TextielMuseum TextielLab; Willem Twee Studios




    • Earth Workers Requiem/Jubilate


    2024



    • November 9, 2024 - March 9, 2025
    Het Noordbrabants Museum, 's-Hertogenbosch

    Earth Workers Requiem/Jubilate consists of a musical composition by Micha Hamel and an installation by Jonas Staal that honors human and non-human Earth Workers across deep pasts, presents and futures.

    Hamel’s musical composition, inspired by geological epochs, features a six-hour electronic score interwoven with live instrumental and vocal interventions. Staal’s installation comprises a fossil landscape formed by pyramids of motor oil and ammonite fossils representing the earth’s ancient past and woven banners depicting rare life forms that thrive in climate catastrophe: the impoverished fossil archives of the future.

    Human animals are not the only laborers on Earth—nonhuman animals, plants and bacteria work too. This collective labor has created a livable biosphere over vast periods of time. As writer Radha D’Souza notes, we are all earth workers. As an expansion of the final line of the Communist Manifesto, Earth Workers Requiem Jubilate calls for unity not only among workers of all lands, but also of workers across all times.

    Earth Workers Requiem/Jubilate commemorates (requiem) and celebrates (jubilate) our collective past and future as earth workers during this critical moment for our ecosystems where our collective extinction has been turned into a profit model for the elites of fossil capitalism. It serves as a rallying cry for earth workers of all times to unite in the struggle for a regenerated biosphere—a sphere of life—for all.
    Climate Propagandas Congregation Propaganda Station
    Studio Jonas Staal, Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 2005 – 2025