Kunsthal is temporarily saying goodbye to Fiona Hallinan’s unique table, made from fragments of a demolished Irish church. This table serves as a reminder of the church’s turbulent history, but at the same time invites us today to take a seat and forge new connections. And it continues to do so.

During Heritage Day, the Nadar Ensemble will perform Raven Chacon’s Voiceless Mass.

There are no singing voices to be heard in this composition by Chacon, who grew up in the Navajo Nation. Instead, eleven musicians stand around the audience, each giving voice to the voiceless in their own way. However, according to Chacon, this voice is meaningless, given the role of the Catholic Church and the atrocities it committed against the indigenous peoples. When awarding the Pulitzer Prize to this work in 2022, the jury called Voiceless Mass an ‘enchanting, original work … that evokes the weight of history in a church setting, a concentrated and powerful musical expression with a haunting, visceral impact.’

Raven Chacon about Voiceless Mass:

“This work considers the spaces in which we gather, the history of access of these spaces, and the land upon which these buildings sit. Though ‘mass’ is referenced in the title, the piece contains no audible singing voices, instead using the openness of the large space to intone the constricted intervals of the wind and string instruments. In exploiting the architecture of the cathedral, Voiceless Mass considers the futility of giving voice to the voiceless, when ceding space is never an option for those in power.”