Hard Boiled Variations by Arnulf Herrmann is a 41-minute work for ensemble and dance. Two aspects are at the centre of it: on the one hand, the piece addresses different facets of acceleration or the different ways of creating the impression of acceleration, and on the other hand, the play of proximity and distance or sharpness and blurriness. The reference to visual perception and the visual arts is quite intentional – comparable to the gradual receding from a canvas, the details fade with incr...