Birds of the Future (2019)

at Fresh Oysters Performance Research

512 E 24th St, Minneapolis Thursday, May 25 – Saturday, June 8, 2019. All shows 8:00pm

A piece about apocalypse, chaos, and hope. A taxonomy of failed utopian impulses. A cycle of nostalgic atrophy. The urge to transcend cyclic utopian collapse. Tenderness, danger, migration, apocalyptic beauty. Drawing into rather sharp relief our cultural desire for a simple, singular answer. Toward a pursuit of possibility. How we might reorganize the vast detritus of the world to build some semblance of safety and then pleasure. We are living in the space of that edge right now.

Inspired by research into the nature of time and the combination of dystopian narratives in popular culture with resurgent political and social activism, Birds of the Future explored what it is to recognize one’s place in a seemingly unending cycle of utopian impulses and dystopian realities. Rather than revel in a bleak aesthetic of apocalypse, Birds of the Future wrestled with the possibilities revealed by chaos — among them, a new understanding of time in which each moment is open to the possibilities of a new way of being.

“We are thinking about endings. We are living in the space of that edge right now. I want to imagine a world where we can use and reuse and remake and reimagine. I don’t mean on a consumer level, I mean in a poetic and practical sense, how we might reorganize the vast detritus of the world to build some semblance of safety and then pleasure.” – Designer Jess Kiel-Wornson

30 seats each night. Five price tiers, $15 – $28. Only 10 tickets per tier. Obstructed views only. Featuring performances from: Erika Hansen, Megan Mayer, Felipe Mafasoli, and Charles Campbell. Installation by Jess Kiel-Wornson. Sound design and original music by Mike Hallenbeck.