Monk in Pieces 

A documentary chronicling Meredith Monk’s life and artistry offers more than just interviews with Björk and David Byrne—it mirrors Monk’s own works through its mosaic structure, exposing her profoundly original vocabulary of sounds and imagery.

Meredith Monk, born in 1942 in New York, is a composer, singer, director, choreographer, filmmaker, and author of operas, music-theatre works, films, and installations. She is a pioneer of what is called extended vocal technique and interdisciplinary performance. By exploring the voice as an instrument—“the language of the heart that describes emotions, memories, and energies for which we have no words”—she pushes the boundaries of musical composition and creates unique sonic landscapes.
In New York’s art scene in the 1960s and 70s, dominated by men, she constantly had to fight for recognition and financial support as a woman. Early criticism was harsh and often sexist. But as her well-known contemporary Philip Glass says: “Among all of us, she was—and still is—the uniquely gifted one.” Today Meredith Monk is internationally recognized, celebrated as a “witch of the voice” and “one of the coolest American composers.”

The film Meredith Monk: Mosaic is presented as part of the 31st festival Mesto žensk (City of Women), which first invited the artist to Slovenia many years ago: in October 1995 she performed a solo concert Songs from the Hill in the Gallus Hall of Cankarjev dom at the closing evening of the first edition of the festival.

“I first encountered Meredith Monk’s music in 1989, when my wife Katie Geissinger joined the cast of the opera Atlas. I had never heard anything like it. As Katie’s collaboration with Meredith continued, my love for her music deepened, as did my curiosity about her unique creative process and extraordinary resilience in the face of capricious and sometimes sexist criticism.
Three years ago Meredith opened the doors of her loft in Tribeca—where she has been working since 1972—to me and my film crew, allowing us to record the rhythm of her everyday life and the creation of her newest work, Indra’s Net. She also granted us access to her rich archive of films, photographs, and notes, giving me a thorough insight into her artistic development. Rather than attempting a comprehensive biography, I have instead assembled a mosaic reflecting the structure of Meredith’s own works. Each chapter is based on one song and offers a unique window into her life’s work.
The counterculture of the 1960s, in which Meredith found her voice, opposed racial and gender discrimination, consumerism, and the Vietnam War. Although her works are not openly political, they embody all those values and seem every bit as inspiring today as at the beginning of her career. Meredith Monk’s music has a healing power for all who experience it. That is what motivates her to continue creating—and what inspired me to make this film.”
– Billy Shebar

Directed by: Billy Shebar, David Roberts / Written by: Billy Shebar, David Roberts / Cinematography: Jeff Hutchens, Ben Stechschulte / Editing: Sabine Krayenbühl / Featuring: Meredith Monk, Björk, David Byrne, John Schaefer, Ping Chong, Joanna Lynn-Jacobs, Lanny Harrison, Julia Wolfe

“The film, which does not provide much context—quite content with the assumption that Meredith Monk’s works (despite the absence of intelligible language) speak for themselves—and is driven almost exclusively by the hypnotic allure of her voice, far exceeds its format: for this is less a story about the artist than about art itself; about what it can offer us, why we need it, and how it can survive in a world that loves discovery almost as much as it hates everything that hasn’t yet been heard or seen.”
– David Ehrlich, IndieWire

The screening is part of the Druga Godba music documentary series at Kinodvor.

In collaboration with Mesto žensk (City of Women) festival and Kinodvor.