Codes of Absence brings musician Nico Yurgaki on stage and takes us with him on a personal vigil, that has its point of departure in Nico´s experiences of migrating into the EU from Colombia. These experiences were often dominated by feelings of saudade and the absence of loved ones. So during the performance, he invites his mother, Bertha Ouinthero, who founded the first female Salsa Ensemble in Colombia, to improvise live music with him -by using the technology of an Internet call.
During these improvisations, they emerge on an intimate conversation that discusses topics like motherhood, rebellion against patriarchy, masculinity, love – and the feeling of absence in a seemingly globally connected world.

The structure of their musical improvisations is grounded in the concept of the five Claves (translated into English as Codes) in Colombian/Pacific and Caribbean music.
These five codes are rhythmic patterns that are present in many music pieces played in Columbia. They have come into existence through hundreds of years of interweaving different musical cultures across the Latin/Afro/Caribbean realm. Thus turning these patterns into a symbol for the unstableness of identity- and its transgression.

Cistifellea is a multidisciplinary collective based in Dortmund, Germany, founded by Elena Tilli, set, video designer, and technologist, and Nico Yurgaki writer, musician, and performer. Together they work to develop dramaturgy that inhabits both cutting-edge technology and instrumental compositions, the building of structures, systems, and spaces. Their work develops around personal themes they feel connected with. As migrants, they have been investigating the role played by technology as a frontier. How video technology can speak about absence. They are interested in questioning the implications of making technology a must-be in artistic expression. Cistifellea works with the aim on stage through the convergence of traditional and contemporary artistic references within theater and performance. For them, each project is an experience, an opportunity for personal growth and individual and collective artistic learning.

Idea and creation: Cistifellea Collective
Text, sound, and performer: Nico Yurgaki
Co-Staging, technology: Elena Tilli
Dramaturgy, Co-Staging: Kai Tuchmann
With: Bertha Quintero
Performing guidance: Cornelia Moore
Partners of research phase I: Cesar René Perez, Pablo Vera Rivas
Partners of research phase II: Soledad Figueroa, Cristian Aaros
Sound technician: Frederick Aderholz
Executive producer: Victor Zapata
Sound/video technical support in Bogota: Juliana Botero, Johnatan Edery
Graphic Design: Maria Taborda
Photo: Jonathan Zipfel
Coproduction: Theater Im Depot, Cistifellea Collective
Duration: ca. 50 minutes