'A truly inspiring weekend'
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★★★★
'Ecstatic energy... enthralling and moving'
The Daily Telegraph
★★★★
'Thrilling'
The Times
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Time Out, Sunday Times
LCMF returned for 2016, in partnership with Thirty Three Thirty Three, to present the world’s first major overview of Julius Eastman - the American composer and performer whose work in the 1970s and 1980s captivated and transgressed the overlapping circles of the New York avant-garde.
With its organic, open forms and vivid, pop aesthetic, Eastman’s music constitutes a vital chapter in the emergence of post-minimalism. At the same time, his foregrounding of black and queer experiences was – and remains – an urgent challenge to the institutions and aesthetics of modern composition.
For this three-day series, Apartment House and Elaine Mitchener presented rarely heard Eastman works, from the recently unearthed long-form masterpiece Femenine to the late, enigmatic Buddha. Music by a range of Eastman’s contemporaries, from John Cage to Arthur Russell, illuminated the myriad contexts and collaborations of his career. And we also featured artists of today, such as dancer-choreographers Jamila Johnson-Small, Alexandrina Hemsley and spoken word artist Christopher Kirubi, whose work probes the politics of race, sexuality and gender.
These live performances were held at Second Home Holland Park, a beautiful industrial space and former photographer's studio. Also installed in the space was a temporary archival exhibition bringing together rarely seen programmes, photography and other documentation of Julius Eastman's career. The collection was curated by Alice Woodhouse with LCMF.
The Holland Park programme is complemented by a panel discussion on Eastman’s life and legacy, taking place at South London Gallery.
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Photo: Will Skeaping