urban café restroom



for video and voice


1 min



urban café restroom is based on a video/audio field recording filmed on a sunday afternoon in 2007 in the restroom of urban café in santa monica where a happy sing-along was going on. the name of the singer and pianist in the café is unfortunately unknown.


the piece is dedicated to my friend, the video and performance artist steffi weismann. the video material is structured in five segments which relate to the letters S T E F F I. the voice sings ’e flat' (in german 'es' = S), makes the sound of a 't', sings the pitches 'e', twice 'f', and makes a final 'ee' (= I) -sound, so steffi's name is woven into the piece.

the song sung in the café was in f-major, so the voice gradually melts with the song. the restroom ventilator also seems to sing in f-major.


for live performances, the score and the pure video without voice is sent on request: postATchristiankestenDOTde






Live performances (video and voice)


June 25, 2007, Labor Sonor, Berlin
June 27, 2007, Engelbrot, Berlin
March 1, 2008, The Red Room, Baltimore
March 12, 2008, Perte de Signal, Montréal
March 14, 2008, Experimental Intermedia, New York
March 21, 2008, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston
March 24, 2008, Fotòfono, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
January 23, 2009, loop-line, Shibuya, Tokyo
September 01, 2023, K!ART: A musical banquet, Bådehuset, Copenhagen (voice: Michael Hope)

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