1964-05-19

HALLO HENNING!

cologne, may 19th, 64/this is a letter going to: eric andersen, joseph beuys, bazon brock, stanley brouwn, henning christiansen, ludwig gosewitz, addi köpcke, ben vautier, wolf vostell, emmett williams, and coming from tomas schmit.

the chief of the "culture department" of the Polytechnic Academy in AACHEN, valdis abolins, wants to have a big performance of newest actions/happenings/etc in the rooms of the pol.aca. and asked me to organize it. abolins is a very good person, knows what he's awaiting, will let us do what WE want to do,, so we have the full freedom in doing a good and big program.

the provisional plan is:
the performance will be on the 20th of july (the date was fixed only since it was the best suitable one for the pol.aca. - that it's exactly twenty years after the 20. juli 44, is a glorious chance and a very very good background for the thing!) - perhaps the performance will have to be postponed for a few days, but it will take place in the week from the 20th to the 27th of july any case.

the provisional plan is:
the auditorium maximum of the pol.aca.: thousand seats, each having a folding-desk and a flap-seat. the seat-rows are rising to the rear. by two aisles they are cut into three blocs. aisles at the walls, too. in the front there is a quite big free platform, elliptical, a little higher than the floor. three doors.
the foyer of the au.max.: big, very high, on the one side it has some different stairs, leading upstairs, on teh other there are big windows.
the corridors and aisles around the au.max..
the mensa of the pol.aca.: in a separate building, which is separated from the building of the au.max. just by a big crossroads.
the crossroads, pavements etc between the two buildings.
(the au.max) can be used only from 8 to 10.30 PM, the other rooms to all other times) ---(see the drawings!!)---

and this is how the basic structure of the whole thing should be:
at 12.00 o'clock noon, actions start. in the foyer. in the corridors. in the mensa. on the street. (all those places are very populous, many people hurrying around, sitting around, standing around/and the audience that comes for our performance). should be a big simultaneity of changing density. actions, lectures, happenings, discussions etc, etc. sometimes much, sometimes just one thing, sometimes nothing. this should go on to the evening. - then, from 8 to 10.30 PM, a very big thing and very dense thing in the auditorium maximum: many many different things on the platform, around the audience, in the audience, etc etc// after that it is planed for instance, to do a big version of brecht's motor vehicle sundown event. (please send proposals for big, single things of such a kind, too!!)

performers:
there will be enough people to help performing, i think.

financial:
the pol.aca. pays for your trip, pays the printing and mailing of the invitations, and (within certain limits!) the material you need.!

OK?!

PLEASE write INSTANTLY to me!!!:
if you can and want to participate/rough (or exact) plans about what you are going to do in the performance/supplementing or changing proposals about the basic structure of the thing/preliminary calculation about how much money you will need for material!!/if you'll need special apparates (as loudspeaker, piano, projector etc) and which ones/if you'll need performers and how many/!!!

OK?!

tomas schmit 5 Köln-Mülheim, Rüdesheimerstr. 14, Germany

[håndskrevet] OK?!! best regards
tomas

[bagside]

the interior of the aud.max.

and the whole thing

Mensa

Big cross-roads

Foyer
<-stairs->
aud. max.