WGXC Discusses Premiere of EMPAC-commission ‘Permanent Trespass’

Today at 4 p.m., Kieran Riley is joined by curator Katherine C. M. Adams to discuss the October 25th premiere of the EMPAC-commissioned new stage performance Permanent Trespass (Beirut of the Balkans & the American Century).

Touching on parallel histories—including the breakdown of the former Yugoslavia and ongoing crises in and around Lebanon—filmmaker Bassem Saad & writer Sanja Grozdanić begin their jointly authored stage performance as eulogists reflecting on “professional mourning.” Eventually, Permanent Trespass unravels into a very different sort of historical reckoning. The characters must contend with the sense of an ending–of an epoch, of a revolution, of a regime. Previously presented in Dro (Italy), The Hague, Beirut, and Frankfurt, this production is commissioned by EMPAC and NW Aalst (Belgium) to integrate a new sound score, film material, and additional experimental projection. The artists approach this expanded version of Permanent Trespass as a cinepoem, building on avant-garde techniques for merging the sensibility of poetic writing with the possibilities of cinematic footage.