Eglė Budvytytė’s (LT/NL), Incantation Karaoke, 2018.
Commissioned by Kiasma Theater, Helsinki

Springing from ideas of ecofeminism and finding its power in song, Incantation Karaoke channels multiple beings bruised by modernity or threatened by human hubris—forms of life such as plants and animals, bacteria and fungi, which are crucial to sustaining balance in our ecologies. Through rhyme, rhythm, repetition and vulnerable presence the piece aims to draw the audience into collectivity and singing.

The performance took place at Concrete, the OMA-designed building shortlisted for the 2019 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Eglė Budvytytė is a Lithuanian artist based in Amsterdam. She makes videos and performance situations to explore the relationships between body, architecture, environment and audience. For Block Universe in Dubai, she presents Incantation Karaoke, a performance channeling multiple entities and ideas bruised by modernity and extractivism through a form of a song. The work explores the potential of rhyme, repetition, sonic alteration of the voice and the proximity of the performer to induce the audience into collectivity and singing.