Images of the EastA Film by Gidon KremerFocused on and around “Pictures from the East” by Robert Schumann, this new programme offers an unusual encounter with the works of Nizar Ali Badr, a Syrian sculptor who has been enthusiastically discussed across the social platforms in recent months. Short audio-visual inserts placed between the movements of Schumann’s composition serve as contrasting pictures from the east. According to the Syrian sculptor his unique language of pebble sculptures should “spread happiness and love amid war, destruction, death, migration, exodus, chaos, poverty and injustice”. Mr. Badr hopes that “this war will end soon, and that the killing will stop”.Every time a stone sculpture is finished, it has to be destroyed, because fixing stones with special glue on special supports has become unaffordable in present Syria. While creating a stone sculpture, the artist knows with certainty that there is nothing there to hold it together and that all of his works will undoubtedly be destroyed in time, just like the sand mandalas. Through this inherent ephemerality Mr. Badr’s work implies the capacity to confront the temporal nature of life.The animation is synchronised with the music from “Zodiac Melodies” by Karlheinz Stockhausen. Selected parts of this cycle are performed by Gidon Kremer and the members of the Kremerata Baltica.