Es Devlin's CONGREGATION to be Presented at At Perelman Performing Arts Center

Perelman Performing Arts Center will present the US premiere of Es Devlin: CONGREGATION as part of PAC NYC ICONS OF CULTURE, where Devlin will be featured in a conversation moderated by photographer and artist Dario Calmese on Wednesday, October 29 at 6pm.

World-renowned artist Es Devlin brings her acclaimed interactive work Es Devlin: CONGREGATION to the U.S., on view for a limited time at PAC NYC. All audiences can experience Devlin's work on a Pay-What-You-Wish basis during hours the center is open October 29 – November 1.

CONGREGATION, created in partnership with UK for UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, features large-scale chalk and charcoal portraits of 50 Londoners who have experienced forced displacement from their homelands. Presented as a projection-mapped tiered sculpture, the work offers a luminous encounter with those who bring their gifts to a new country.

Each portrait sitter is a co-author of the work. Each is depicted holding a box containing a projected animated sequence which they have invited Es Devlin to envisage. The co-authors constitute a vibrant London congregation whose roots extend across the globe to Syria, Sudan, South Sudan, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Eritrea, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Somalia, Tanzania, Chile, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and Germany. They range in age from 18 to 90; some arrived decades ago as small children, some arrived a few years ago on small boats. The accompanying soundscape is composed by Polyphonia. The sound installation features poetry by the Kinshasa born poet JJ Bola and extracts from Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It culminates in a reworking of Anton Bruckner's sacred motet Locus Iste (This Place) which fuses the voices of The London Bulgarian Choir, The South African Cultural Gospel Choir UK, Genesis Sixteen, and The Choir of King's College London. The projected film sequence has been created in close collaboration with film maker Ruth Hogben and choreographer Botis Seva and features dancer Joshua Shanny Wynter.