Rupert is pleased to announce two events as part of its Public and Residencies Programmes — a talk by philosopher and educator Mijke van der Drift and a new performance “VENUS” by Los Angeles-based artist and musician Tyler Matthew Oyer, concluding their two-month residency at Rupert. Both events will take place on Saturday, July 31, 2021 at the St. Nicholas’ Church, located in decommissioned prison, now cultural and concert venue Lukiškių kalėjimas 2.0
At 18:00, in their talk “Embracing the Void: Lucretius and the Magic of Social Change”, Mijke van der Drift will address social change through the philosophy of flux of Lucretius. Lucretius, one of the early atomists, offers a material account of social change, rather than an account that relies on divine interventions. While current ways of organising life need to change, new social forms are not readily available or even able to be imagined clearly, such as what happens in the case of abolition of prisons. Working for social change seems to require a larger than human faith in the potential for making a difference. In that sense, social change relies on magical thinking, yet requires the, often hard, work of social organising. Mijke van der Drift will discuss this balancing act between material change and magical thinking as a form of ethics. Contrary to idealist ethics that specifies principles in advance magical thinking relies on openness and embracing the unknown, or in Lucretius words: embracing the void.
At 20:00, following the talk by Mijke van der Drift, the audience will then experience a new performance “VENUS” by Los Angeles-based artist and musician Tyler Matthew Oyer. Part operetta, part techno club, and part esoteric ritual, “VENUS” is contextualized within the decommissioned chapel of the decommissioned prison Lukiškės. Entitled “VENUS”, this music-driven stage show revolves around mediations on Venus as a femme, anti-patriarchal, non-dominant icon. It features music from Tyler’s records RELEASE DELUXE, NO TEMPLE, and RETEMPLE, in addition to brand new unreleased songs produced while in residence at Rupert.
Mijke van der Drift is a philosopher and educator working on ethics, trans studies, technology, and anti-colonial philosophy. Mijke lectures at KABK, the Hague, the Royal College of Art, London, and contributes to the Revolutionary Papers Project at the University of Cambridge. Mijke’s work has appeared in the Journal of Speculative Philosophy, the Journal of Aesthetics and Culture, in various independent publications as well as chapters in The Emergence of Trans (Routledge 2020), and The New Feminist Literary Studies Reader (Cambridge UP 2020). Van der Drift is currently working with the collective FuturoBuku on a performance project in Kyiv titled Sambatas Stagings, and a project titled Extractivism, Datafication, and Transformative Justice. With Nat Raha, Mijke is working on a book project, titled Trans Femme Futures.
Over the last decade Tyler Matthew Oyer has become an internationally recognized visual and performing artist known for their theatrical, campy, goth-pop performances. Their songs call for social change; the destruction of patriarchal rule in favor of femme, queer, anti-violent, unconventional or maladjusted alterities. Their musical aesthetics combine performance art-spoken-work incantation with their training in opera and classical voice. Their performances are born from the radical legacies of Klaus Nomi, Kembra Pfahler, Kenneth Anger, Peaches, Ron Athey, and Diamanda Galas. Previous performances include The Getty Museum, Silencio Paris, Ekebergparken Oslo, MoMA PS1, and documenta 13.
The events will take place on Saturday, July 31, 2021, at 18:00 and 20:00 respectively, at at the St. Nicholas’ Church, located in decommissioned prison, now the cultural and concert venue Lukiškių kalėjimas 2.0.
The entrance to the events is free of charge.
Schedule of the event
18:00 – Mijke van der Drift “Embracing the Void: Lucretius and the Magic of Social Change”
20:00 – Tyler Matthew Oyer “VENUS”
Rupert’s activities are supported by Lithuanian Council for Culture.
Co-organiser: Lukiškių kalėjimas 2.0