Future Ruins
Ofir Klemperer - conduction William Barrow - Casio Juel Rust - acoustic guitar Katie Young - Bassoon Ben Shirley - cello Jennifer Proctor - gond Adam Mirza - violin Paul Stevens - saw Majid Araim - mandolin Alex Cohen - viola da gamba Gabriel Monticello - double bass Raelixe Cassettte - bariton electric guitar Eric Fontaine - clarinet in Bb Chip Epsten - violin Brian Magerko - trombone, acoustic guitar Priscilla Smith - flute Al Yasha Ilhaam Williams - clarinet in Bb Alec Pruitt - electric guitar
Future Ruins Ofir Klemperer and Heidi Schwegler THE END Project Space Opening Reception: Nov. 18th, 7 - 9pm. Performance at 8pm
For this project, Ofir Klemperer (Atlanta, GA) and Heidi Schwegler (Yucca Valley, CA) approach the notion of a Future Ruins with the Mojave Desert as the site of origin. A full-time resident of the Mojave, Schwegler is sensitive to something in the desert that once you notice it, it’s as present as nature: Styrofoam. Shoved into an outdoor trash bin the Santa Ana winds often force the packaging into flight. As the desert is full of all things pokey, the foam quickly finds the needles of a cholla or the daggers of a Joshua tree, where it is destined to linger, flop, and bake for the remainder of its physical existence. That is until Schwegler finds it. By formally presenting found foam alongside others re-cast in glass and concrete, she questions if we would more consciously consider the things that we purchase, consume and toss if they were presented as ruins of the future. Less intended as activism, Schwegler re-frames waste by producing a novel experience through the transformation of the mundane. In response to Schwegler’s interest in mass-produced forms turned ‘one of a kind’ by great random forces, Klemperer answers with as much personal context as possible in the form of audio, coupled with Schwegler’s sculpture. Klemperer will resonate the objects and the gallery walls with field recordings from Yucca Valley, Georgia's forests, the Mediterranean sea, construction sites in Israel, synthesized and edited invasive sound bites, and, importantly, the recordings of the live performance from the opening event for Future Ruins. In the opening event, Klemperer will fill the gallery space with the musicians of the Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra. The ensemble will perform music in an attempt to charge the walls and the objects with some sacred meaning and reflect on the collective social trauma caused by the pandemic and the isolation, noting the present as a future result of those past days.
Video production by Adam Mirza
