MARIA COHEN
I Always See Stars Above My Head
I Always See Stars Above My Head, is a multi-disciplinary performance, video installation and participatory project created by Quartz Collective. This project explores the intersection of music, dance and visual art through dynamic performances, immersive workshops and events for various audiences.
We strive to achieve a more sustainable approach to the art-making process by inviting people from different backgrounds, lowering the barriers between different art forms or industries; and forming a creative community for people from all fields to support and overcome struggles by expressing themselves naturally and being inspired by each other.
We acknowledge the challenges and barriers that people experience when seeking a career in art or living as a creative, so we wish to create a safe and open space where we can talk and face the challenges together, and make the production process more exciting.
This new body of work is an immersive installation set within a confined, intimate, digitally animated space, the project explored the physical and emotional limits of the body through continuous live performance. Over the course of five uninterrupted hours, two performers inhabited the space, moving in a state of constant, intuitive motion. The audience experienced the work voyeuristically—through a single peephole embedded in the door, reminiscent of an oversized, inverted keyhole.
The sound scape blended music with field recordings, drawing attention to the overlooked textures of daily life. It challenged the idea that music lives only in structure, reminding us that sound surrounds us—subtle, irreplaceable, and deeply woven into our existence. Looping animated visuals created an atmosphere of relentless chaos, with no defined beginning or end—intensifying the sense of repetition, confusion, and unpredictability.
