ABC of exclamations

ABC of exclamations
A performative video sound poem (2024/25)

1. colourful me
2 Hello, world!
3. everything in motion
4 We and I
5. whirlwind of emotions
6. fairground of realities

7. quieter, quieter!
8. the most successful experiment

Comic drawings: Kastuś Žybul

Poetry: Vera Burlak
Composition: Georgia Koumará

Animated film: Monika Nuber

Poetry translation: Thomas Weiler

The ABC of exclamations is an artistic interpretation of the Belarusian alphabet by poet Vera Burlak and her son Kastuś Žybul (19), who lives with autism. For each sound of the 34 letters, the two have found an emotional exclamation and transformed these exclamations into 34 stories–fantastic comic drawings by Kastuś, whimsical, funny, enigmatic poems by Vera.

Stuttgart-based animation filmmaker Monika Nuber brings the comics into motion together with Kastuś and Georgia Koumará embeds the walk-in installation in a 40-minute expansive sound narrative. The result is an impressive plea for imagination, freedom and mutual attention.

Premiered at ECLAT 2025 at the Theaterhaus Stuttgart

Supported by the

Emotional worlds
Kastuś, who came up with the idea for the ABC of exclamations, is in a special situation. He has autism and therefore needs special extra lessons to familiarise him with the world of emotions. On the one hand, he is probably more familiar with the theory in this area than most others, but on the other hand, he has fewer opportunities to put his knowledge into practice. For him, the ABC of Exclamations project is an experience of openness, of approaching people, taking the first step and waiting for an answer, for acquaintance, friendship. However, the question of how to live in harmony with one’s feelings, how to recognise and express them, seems to be important for many people.

In the post-Soviet countries, where both Kastuś and I come from, there are still living educational traditions that do not leave much room for the expression and understanding of one’s own feelings. Either because of ‘collectivism’ or because of patriarchal traditions. I remember when I was a student, we used to write in our pedagogy notes: ‘The aim of the course is to equip the teacher with effective teaching methods’. My draft was shorter: ‘The aim of the course is to equip the teacher’. Full stop. You can stop at the word ‘equip’ [identical to ‘equip’ in Belarusian]. It’s as if the teacher is not going to the students, but to the enemy. And the teacher himself should ‘arm’ the pupil with knowledge that is useful for life. As if life were the enemy. You can’t share feelings with the enemy, communication with him is an exchange of shots from ‘weapons’.

Many teachers actually study hard and then try very hard to do their job well. This is true!!! A teacher comes to school with lesson plans, methods and techniques. And all of this has to be implemented successfully, regardless of the student substrate the teacher encounters. And this substrate is terribly heterogeneous, each child has its own character, its own wishes, its own feelings. The children have to put all that aside in order to become a good substrate for the implementation of the educational plans in the classroom. And then in the family-for family plans. And for themselves? Maybe I’m exaggerating, but this problem does exist.

Discipline, fast, impressive results of collective action and the priority of individuality, of self-development: how can we find a balance between these poles? And how can the individual survive in the midst of all this and maintain an awareness of their own value? I think this is very important.

We live in a time in which human life is valued less and less. Thousands of people are thrown into the meat grinder of war and destroyed like wooden figures in a shooting gallery. In totalitarian societies, people are seen as cogs with the lowest degree of inner freedom. And even where there is more freedom, manipulative technologies (and manipulation is primarily based on emotions and feelings) are as widespread as microplastics. I believe it is useful to be constantly reminded of the value of the individual, their feelings and each fragile and marvellous individual universe. Without respect and attention for the personality, its feelings, humanity is really in danger of simply disappearing.
(Vera Burlak)

Kastuś Žybul (*2005 in Minsk) completed his school education in Minsk (Belarus). He combines his self-realisation with the visual arts. He has been writing fairy tales and poems since childhood and has tried his hand at theatre and drawing comics. He studied acting and took part in performances at the Minsk-based inclusive family theatre ‘i’. Kastuś has autism, and the inclusive theatre studio gave him the opportunity to enter the world of art and develop his creative skills. Kastuś now lives in Stuttgart.

‘It’s easier to cry alone.’
I often want to talk about my feelings, but not always. The main thing is that the feelings are just there and it’s not necessary to talk about them. The most important thing for me is to have them, to live with them, to feel them. And I want to talk about the strongest and brightest feelings–both positive and negative. For example, when they are disturbing or, on the contrary, when they are so good that you want to share them. If you talk about a bad feeling, it may become weaker. But there are also secret feelings that you don’t want to talk about. And there are feelings that are not secret but are difficult to put into words. I’ve managed to express them through drawing a few times.

It’s not easy to express feelings in all circumstances. Sometimes there are obstacles–for example, when my dialogue partners are busy. It’s easier to express feelings when it’s quiet or when nobody can see me. It’s easier to cry alone.

Each of my drawings has its own story. Sometimes I draw in a bad mood, sometimes in a good one. I also write stories and plays in which I express my feelings, thoughts and moods. It’s important for me to express them.
(Kastuś Žybul)

Vera Burlak (*1977 in Kyiv) is a writer, translator, performer and is involved in literary and musical projects. She studied Russian philology and later taught at the Belarusian State University, where her main academic interest was poetry for children. She writes her literary works in Belarusian. In her poetry and short prose she tries to combine naivety and irony, rational-verbal and musical principles in a paradoxical way. Her poems and short stories have been translated into German, English, Czech, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian and Esperanto. Vera Burlak has lived with her family in Stuttgart since 2023.

Georgia Koumará (*1991 in Thessaloniki) studied music theory and composition in Thessaloniki with Michalis Lapidakis and in Cologne with Johannes Schöllhorn and Michael Beil. She conveys her thoughts through sound, drawing, body gestures, unpredictability and thick layers of noise. In her music, she is fascinated by exploring the relationships between conceptual, perceptible and quantifiable time. She enjoys collaborating with others and incorporating improvisational elements into her works. She is fascinated by the complexity of the human brain and human existence. She spends a lot of time finding the next fragile moment and experimenting with synthesisers.

Here and now

When I saw Kastuś’s drawings for the first time, I was overcome with a flood of feelings and emotions. The bright colours, the stories that unfolded before my eyes, as well as the ambiguity, the fundamental depth and the playful nature of the images immediately inspired me deeply. Tone colours and ideas intuitively took up space in my head and developed into a musical concept.

In this event, it is not only a sonic narrative of the various images that can be experienced. The 8-channel installation also creates an individual listening experience that each visitor can perceive in their own way. The electro-acoustic composition deals with fundamental questions of the individual: How differently does each of us perceive the world? How do we position ourselves in relation to ourselves and to society? Furthermore: When we talk about society, what kind of society are we talking about? How much space do fear and uncertainty take up in our lives and how do we deal with them–do we fight them, accept them or learn to live with them?

Themes such as identity, liberation and pleasure also play an important role in our behaviour and perception. What does it sound like to be uncomfortable? Where do we feel it in our body? What do ‘evil’ ice creams sound like and can I overcome my fears if I disguise my worries as a ‘Pacman monster’? How much space do we leave for love in our lives? Maybe not enough.

Should we take our time on this earth more seriously, or sometimes just enjoy it playfully like a video game and let the environment inspire us? There is no clear answer, or rather, there is not just one answer. Come in and enjoy the colours, the subtle movements in the video and sound and the sometimes funny, sometimes whimsical and chaotic, sometimes serious and sometimes emotion-manipulating sounds. Sometimes disturbing, sometimes playful, sometimes a little sarcastic and ironic. Come in, think a little if you like, or not. Enjoy the here and now with a certain mindfulness and curiosity for the time you have dedicated to this event.

(Georgia Koumará)

Monika Nuber lives and works as an animated filmmaker and musician in Stuttgart. She adds singing, rhythm and sound to her animated films and videos in all imaginable combinations of image and sound. She first studied literature and philosophy in Tübingen, then art in Stuttgart and Prague with Joseph Kosuth, Joan Jonas and Milan Knížák, among others. However, her artistic self-image stems above all from the many collaborations and collectives in which she has been involved since the 1990s. She plays double bass in various constellations, is a founding member of the Jon Shit collective, performs as an audiovisual duo with Hans Joachim Irmler and is jointly responsible for the Klangbad Festival and the programme of the Faust Studio in Scheer. Other collaborations in image and sound: the music theatre experimental series by Schorsch Kamerun, Mother Mountain (with Johanna Mangold and Lidija Paun), Guenter Schlienz, Carl Oesterhelt, Russudan Meipariani and Katharina Wibmer.

Fantasy and mystery
It is wonderful to see what drawing can do as an expression of feelings. Kastuś’ fantasies are multi-layered: colourful, lively, detailed, surprising. With exuberant imagination, subtlety and mystery, he draws inspiration from the sounds of the Belarusian language. We see monsters, machines, figures, all kinds of creatures and absurd situations of many kinds. Tragedy and happiness lie close together. The pictures are full of gestures of liberation, but also tell of constraints and entanglements.

Working with Kastuś’ drawings inspires me to take sometimes quiet and sometimes daring steps to set them in motion. The aim is to show and preserve the immediate power of the visual ideas, but also to interact congenially in complicity with the sounds of Georgia Koumará and to stage the ABC of exclamations in an exciting way. I hope that the poems, the animated drawings and the music come together in a way that inspires and moves the audience as much as it does me.
(Monika Nuber)