limina / Sensation 1

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Bern-based quartet Nikel performs “limina” by US-born, Germany-based Mark Barden. Composed for saxophone, synths, electric guitar, electric organ and amplified objects, the work creates a hypnotic, immersive environment that invites deep listening to the underlying structures of sound. In playing with dense textures and expansive soundscapes, it evokes psychoacoustic illusions through evolving sonic masses. The title of the piece is the plural of “limen”, meaning the sensory threshold of a physiological or psychological response. As Barden explains, the composition “invites surrender into a complexly embodied sonic space that embraces raw sound as both a manifestation of and refuge from an unnameable external force”, exploring embodiment in multiple layers: musicians physically enacting sound, listeners perceiving it, and the collective experience of live performance. At its core, Barden’s composition is not just about sound, but about tactility – the sensation of touch, feeling and being touched.

“limina” is designed to be performed alongside Dominican-American choreographer Ligia Lewis’s solo “Sensation 1” and can be understood as an homage to that powerful sculptural study of embodied movement. The internationally touring dancer defines this early work as “a sculptural choreography with the gesture of singing rendered mute”, which can also be described as tour through a waxwork museum of emotions, using only the subtlest of changes in gestures. “limina” and “Sensation 1” are presented in sequence rather than simultaneously. This juxtaposition creates a dialogue that allows the works’ atmospheres and apperception to interpenetrate in a diffuse, hybridised and individual way rather than through the direct correlations that arise from simultaneity. Our memory of the first work persists as a shadow during the second work, shaping affect, meaning and more.