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Anna Schimkat's Timeless Movement in Socks (Macht euch auf die Socken) delves into the experiences of Saxon immigrants in the early 20th century in the USA. In collaboration with fiddle player Anna Roberts-Gevalt (US) and violinist Izabela Kałduńska (PL/D), the project merges electroacoustic music and artistic-historical research. The three-hour performance (at FourOneOne, Space for Performance, New York, and Seanaps Festival @ Techne Sphere, Leipzig) activated self-developed thread instruments and sculptures in the installation with field recordings, object sounds, shortwave radio, and live violin interpretations of immigration songs.

Presented here, the radio piece expands the experimental sound track of the installation with extensive research and interview material. Thus, from the intertwining of history, a linear listening experience is created. The historical thread connecting the Erzgebirge with the world is made available to a wider audience. The radio piece is produced in English and German.

The focus is on migration processes, cultural preservation, and transformation. Before World War II, the Erzgebirge region in Saxony was a center for global sock production, and Saxon craftsmen migrated to the USA in the 1920s. Chapters such as "Machine/Work/Repetition" and "Assimilation/ Frozen Culture/Loss" explore the facets of the stories and unfold with endurance. The interplay of traditional music and experimental object sounds, coupled with the personal memories of people from the Erzgebirge, Germany, and Pennsylvania, USA, enhances the emotional impact.

The artistic research for "Macht euch auf die Socken / Timeless Movement in Socks" was supported by a research residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Project (ISCP) in New York City, funded by the Kunstfonds Foundation and the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony. The composition of the radio piece was made possible by funding from the Music Fund and the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony.

Credits: Voice: Anna Clementi Violin / Objects: Izabela Kałduńska Fiddle: Anna Roberts-Gevalt Autoharp and Voice: Keith Brintzenhoff Composition / Text / Objects / Electronics / Voice: Anna Schimkat Proofreading: Marcel Raabe Translation: Janice Spry Recording: André Rauch Waxmood Studio, Leipzig Special thanks to: Rita Puls and Edith Bitterlich - Vereinigung Erzgebirge Warminster (Warminster Township, Pennsylvania), Uwe Lindner - Heimatkundlicher Verein Thalheim (Thalheim, Saxony), Thomas Lindner, Strumpfwerk Lindner GmbH (Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Saxony), Erstes Deutsches Strumpfmuseum Gelenau (Saxony), Patrick Donmoyer (Kutztown, Pennsylvania), Mark McGuigan, German Society Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), Dr. Judith Matzke (Dresden), Consul General David Gill, Mariella de Carvalho, Consul for Culture and Education, Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany (New York City, USA), Katelynn Dun (New York, USA), Jonas Petry, Amelie Neumann (Seanaps Festival), Anica Kehr (Techne Sphere Leipzig), Karl, Fritz, and Ella.