Kae Tempest

Kae Tempest has always been multi­faceted. When, ten years ago, they toured internationally with the spoken-­word project «Brand New An­cients», they had just published a poetry collec­tion and a hip hop album while writing several theatre plays. Shortly after, Tempest was the first non-­male artist to win the Ted Hughes Award by the British Poets Society. Subsequently, they were nominated for the Mercury Prize and, last year, awarded the Silver Lion at the Biennale Teatro in Venice.

Be it in novels, songs or on stage, Tempest puts their trust in the word. They sing or say things in ways you’d expect from very few people. The characters described in many of their works, are desperate young English women and men – robbed of many of their hopes by British neoliberalism – whom the artist engages with unparalleled hu­manism.

Two years ago, Tempest wrote «On Connec­tion», an essay based on the structure of a club concert, which traces their artistic biography as well as imagines a society characterised, not by achievement, but by closeness and togetherness. Their latest album «The Line Is A Curve» is perhaps their most personal so far. At the Theater Spek­takel, Tempest will perform it live together with the multi­-instrumentalist Hinako Omori. (mvh)