2009

2009 is performed by a recently formed brass band of 18-year-olds. The band sing, play, dance and drum as a way of exploring their different relationships to a shared present and future through things they have written and things they have been listening to.

Since January 2026, Germany has written to each new cohort of 18-year-olds to assess their interest in and suitability for military service. From July 2027, men born in 2008 or later will also be subject to compulsory medical assessment. The system arrives alongside increased defence spending and a renewed political focus on military preparedness.

We want to put the army of 2009 on the agenda.

The band plays stories, wishes, politics and ideas turned into songs. The work is shaped by what the young people have been listening to and by things they make themselves, as they collectively explore what they believe is, and is not, worth fighting for.