Current members

Artistic direction/research; clarinet/voice; theory-performance: Ingrid Hoelzl

Ingrid holds a Diploma in Fine Arts/Visual Culture Studies from the University of the Arts Berlin with a video work on image futures/future images and a PhD in Media Anthropology from the Humboldt University Berlin with a work on the theory of photographic self-portraiture taking the example of African artist Samuel Fosso. Her theory-performance approach developed over the recent years integrates image- and cultural theory, concept improvisation and performance, sound and movement, aiming at a multidimensional practice of Earthly partaking.

While based in Hong Kong as Assistant Professor at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong (2013-17) she was the founding member of AGE / Algorithmic Glitch Ensemble and Archetype Ensemble and member of the artist space Floating Projects where she organized, among others, the performance event Interspecies Musicking (2017) in which dancers, musicians, performers, air conditioners, and primate voices formed a “general ecology” of expression.

As a Visiting Scholar/Artist at Central European University Budapest (2017/18) she staged General Humanity Lab 1: IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, together with Emese Kovacs (HU) and Remi Marie (FR). During her fellowship at the transdisciplinary think tank Collegium Helveticum (2018/19) she wrote and directed General Humanity Lab 2: POSTIMAGE OPERAAAHHH!!!, an experimental opera envisioning the image as an interspecies “resonance” and “dance”. Since 2020 the collective is based in Digne-les-Bains (FR) and Hamburg. General Humanity Lab 3: ANIMAL ANCESTOR (October 2020) explored the human condition between divinity and animality, and General Humanity Lab 4: PEAK HUMANITY (June 2021) focused on the peak and turning point of humanity. General Humanity Lab 5: FUTURE EVE (June 2022) tackled the uneasy alliance between feminism, transhumanism, and liberalism with regard to artificial reproduction.

Her recent research on resonance funded by the Hamburger Kulturstiftung and the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media has led to the creation of two experimental films: I cried into the forest and it laughed back at me (2021) and EARTH PULSE (2022) which has premiered at the Teatro por el fin del Mundo in Tampico, Mexico, in February 2022 and has since then been shown in both Spanish and English.

As a digital and environmental image theorist Ingrid has published in peer-reviewed journals and anthologies, as well as in the context of contemporary art. Her writings can be viewed and downloaded on Academia.edu. Following up on the book SOFTIMAGE (2015), a critical investigation of the state of the image in digital culture, COMMON IMAGE (2021), endorsed by Michael Marder, Jeffrey Cohen and Olga Goriunova, investigated the image as a relation between all Earthly partakers and a larger than human communism. Both books are co-authored with independent writer Remi Marie. Ingrid is currently working on a new book project, tentatively titled FUTURE IMAGES / IMAGE FUTURES.

Poetry-performance; Tai Ji, Qi Gong: Bianca Hein

Bianca Hein, born 1984 in Gelsenkirchen, is a poet, performer and mother to be. She studied German language, art history and musicology at the University of Marburg, and Fine Arts/Visual Communication at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg (HFBK) with focus on theory (Hans-Joachim Lenger) and artistic scenario/mediology (Michael Haller). Thereafter she worked as independent performer and as author/speaker for independent radio broadcasts (FSK) and toured through Europe with experimental noise and music projects (NLAVB, INTERSTELLAR NIGHTMARE). This was followed by theatre work: For Holger Potocki she designed the stage vor the parody of “Das Wirtshaus im Spessart”; with Anna Vila (Barcelona) she developed during her engagement at Nordharzer Städtebundtheater in the synagogie Halberstadt the dance piece “Ich schweige nicht” about the fate of two Jewish girls during the Holocaust, and held a position as director assistant at the Theatre Chemnitz. In 2018 she wrote and directed together with Michael Haller BEAUTYLAND/2018. Recent works also include ZEITMATERIALANALYSEN/2017, HOMO Safari and “Deathdrive/Chemnitzprotokolle”.

Since 2019 Hein performs in Drum/Voice Duo projects together with Björn Lücker (SCHILLERBETON, DAS SCHWALBENBUCH) and since 2020 she is collaborating with Ingrid Hoelzl and the General Humanity collective for which he has created the movement method of “mind loosenings”. For over 20 years she has been intensively practising martial arts. On the basis of taiji she is inquiring the intergration of body, soul and spirit – and its potential for art.

In addition to her own artistic practice, she organizes events for other artists and musicians and passes on her experience in the martial arts as a teacher. Hein is an active member of theaterlandschafft (theaterlandschafft.de) and works closely together with Stiftung Ros (stiftungros.de) in the development of new lyrical formats (blackbox poetry).

Electronic composition, performance, voice: Heloise Francesconi

Heloise Francesconi is an upcoming electronic composer and musician. Her compositions are inspired by concrete music, ambient, industrial and noise.

Heloise started music with singing, later turning to to free improvised music with electronic guitar and synthesizers. She holds a diploma of musical studies in electroacoustic composition from the Conservatory of Nice (2021). Between 2018 and 2020 she was part of the analog and modular synthesizers trio HHH (ambient). Most of her performances took place in museums (MAMAC, MAA etc) as well as alternative art spaces. She’s now playing the electric guitar in the experimental noise-rock band TORU. She collaborates with various artists (authors, ceramists, musicians) with electronic, voice, guitar, composition. Héloïse has been part of General Humanity since her collaboration to the short film EARTH PULSE (2022).

Dramaturgy, poetry, video:  Remi Marie

Remi Marie is an independent writer and visual artist, co-founder and editor of the French online journal Art Debout and founding and permanent member of General Humanity to which he contributes as a dramaturg, poet, and videographer.

After an M.A. in physics from the University Paris VI and a D.E.A. in Aesthetics from the University Vincennes Saint-Denis (Paris 8) he turned to visual arts and poetry before taking up experimental literature. His work has been shown in museum, galleries, and theaters (Musee d’Art Moderne, Paris; Public, Paris; Theatre Durance, Chateau-Arnoud; Montevideo, Marseille, etc.) and published in reviews (Grumeaux, Fusees, Nioques, Action Restreinte, Boxon, Le Quartanier, Dernier Telegramme, Journal des Lointains). His experimental autofiction, JE, published with Leo Scheer, Paris in 2010, was enthusiastically reviewed by renowned contemporary writer and critic Nathalie Quintane (Sitaudis). He has worked as a set designer for independent theatre and film with directors such as Michael Lonsdale, Léos Carax, Suzanne Schifman, Peter Brook and Catherine Dasté, and as a videaste for choreographers such as Alain Michard, Mark Tompkins, George Apaix. In 2016, he co-founded the French online journal Art Debout dedicated to contemporary issues in art and politics and where he recently published on the imbrication of ecofeminism and queer theory and on viral critique. Since 2014, he is collaborating with Ingrid Hoelzl, co-authoring several books and articles.

Dance, choreography: Emese Kovacs

Emese Kovács, born 1991 in Békéscsaba, Hungary, is a dancer, performer, and choreographer. She is founding and permanent member of the multidisciplinary site-sensitive company Ziggurat Project and General Humanity; she was part of all General Humanity Labs to date.

Emese is a regular guest artist of the Czech company Orbita. After studying at Budapest Contemporary Dance Academy she received her degree at Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno (CZ) in dance and movement theatre in 2016. She has cooperated with companies such as Philippe Genty Company (FR) and Zero Ballet Company (HU), choreographers such as Tereza Vejsada Leopoldová & Lukáš Leopold (CZ), Batarita (HU), Márta Ladjánszki (HU) and Greenmy Tong (HK), and musicians/composers such as Miroslav Tóth (SK), Paul Yip (HK) and Ingrid Hölzl (AUT). In 2013 she was a scholarship holder of Batarita Dance Company, since 2017 she is a member of L1 Association. In 2018 she was supported by the Zoltán Imre Program for young dancers. She has been invited to numerous residencies, most recently at CCDC Hongkong, Visegrad Fund residency at KAIR (Košice), Nástupište 1-12 (Topoľčany), Rezidance (Komařice), etc. Her long-term research interest as a maker is the objectification of the human body and the borders of “normality”.

Viola, theory-performance: Frantz Loriot

French-Japanese violist Frantz Loriot studied music in Paris with Mari Yasuda-Raclot, the Pons brothers, Nicolas Dupin, Ivry Gitlis, Yukari Tate & Pascal Robault and was brought to improvisation by Régis Huby, Joëlle Léandre, Barre Phillips, and David S. Ware. He was initiated to soundmassage by Thierry Madiot. After having lived in Paris and New York City, Frantz Loriot relocated to Zürich (Switzerland) where he is a member of the Werkstatt für Improvisierte Musik. He is currently completing an MA thesis in Transdisciplinarity on Eduard Glissant’s notion of “relation” at the Zurich University of the Arts where he moderated my lecture-performance Transaction as Traversal (April 2020).

Frantz is joining General Humanity from PEAK HUMANITY onwards, where he will perform as a violist/improviser and a theorist/speaker drawing on his research on Eduard Glissant.

Frantz performs solo and is active in a number of international ensembles. He has contributed to interdisciplinary projects related to dance, image, theatre and poetry. Loriot initiated and led two large ensembles, the European Notebook Large Ensemble and the NYC based Systematic Distortion Orchestra. Active in a number of international collective ensembles, his other personal projects include: duos with Christoph Erb (saxophones), with Christian Wolfarth (percussions), trios Natura Morta – with Sean Ali (contrabass) & Carlo Costa (drums), baloni – with Joachim Badenhorst (reeds) & Pascal Niggenkemper (contrabass), quartet Der Verboten – with Antoine Chessex (tenor saxophone), Cédric Piromalli (piano) & Christian Wolfarth (percussions), the project Treffpunkt around international meetings with French pianist Cédric Piromalli. He regularly performs around the globe (Europe, USA, South America, Japan & Middle East) and has been invited to be artist in residence at the Météo – Mulhouse Music festival (2016 edition) and Moods in Zurich (December 2018). Loriot has also been commissioned to write and perform his composition with the Tel Aviv (Israel) based ensemble for new music, Musica Nova (January 2019). He occasionally organises concerts series when he has the opportunities (WIM-Hearings in Zurich, for ex.). While living in NYC, he created and curated (co-curated later on) the musical series Ze Couch in Brooklyn, and co-curated the Avant-Post series with Tonino Miano in Harlem. Both series were mainly dedicated to avant-garde/new music. Frantz appears on over 40 records released on international labels such as Peira, FMR, Sickcore, Impressus, Prom Night, Edible Onion, Komma Null, Klein, Neither/Nor, OutNow, Shhpuma, Intonema, Clean Feed, Creative Sources, Veto Exchange etc.

Costume advisor: HO Su Pei

Supei is a sustainable fashion designer currently based in Singapore and Berlin. Founder & Maker of the sustainable womenswear label SU BY HAND focused on handmade and small batch production using ancestral dying techniques (vegetal and mineral), textile marbling, and embroidery. Supei has been involved in earlier solo projects of Ingrid Hoelzl (Concerto pour la Folie, 2016, ACO Hong Kong) and is acting as a costume advisor for General Humanity.

Supei’s personal interest in sustainable fashion landed her a role as Technical Design Manager for The R Collective, a pioneering sustainable label born from NGO Redress where she also works as an educational ambassador via the presentation of talks and workshops on sustainable fashion and circular design techniques. Supei conducted educational workshops in textile marbling at The Harbor School International (HK), the HIVE, Three Keys Craft Space etc.

Chinese translation, recital: TSAO Yidi

TSAO Yidi is a transdisciplinary artist, curator and writer working with a diverse range of media through texts, codes, photography, video, installation, performance and happening, muddling the boundary between fiction and reality. She has worked as editor for The Art Newspaper Hong Kong, Chair of the Artist Residency Programme at ISEA2016, Hong Kong, and on various independent projects with international organisations. She received her B.A. in English Language & Literature from Hong Kong Baptist University and M.A. in Creative Media with Distinction from School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. After working as exhibition programme coordinator for TRANSMEDIALE, Berlin she is now experimenting alternative ways of living, currently as a resident at MARS in the Californian desert.

Yidi has collaborated as a translator and speaker to the audio version of the scene Humans Must Go! of General Humanity Lab 3: ANIMAL ANCESTOR released in July 2020. Yidi is equalaly collaboratoring with the General Humanity Mountain Lab project launched in 2021.

Translation: Naturalismo

Gabriele de Seta aka Naturalismo is a media anthropologist, artist and experimental musician. He holds a PhD in sociology from the Polytechnical University Hong Kong and is currently based in Bergen where he works as a postdoc at the Digital Culture Unit of the University of Bergen researching digital folklore and media practices in mainland China. Gabriele has contributed to the General Humanity Blog as a translator and will continue to be involved.

From 2007-2017 he ran the experimental label Monstres par Excès and in April 2020 he released his album Elegie on Sotajazz, the first installment in the label’s Death Series. Elegie consists of three compositions for recently deceased artists, the first of which, L’Ultima Fossa (“the last ditch”), is a slow ambient dirge for Zev Asher (1963-2013). De Seta (aka Caligine) and Ingrid Hoelzl (aka Arkajolie) have met in Hong Kong in 2015 and collaborated since then; they co-founded AEG (Algorithmic Glitch Ensemble) and performed in various locations and constellations. In 2015, they recorded the album Elongation together with Wilmer Chan.