With just one day left before opening, New York’s Performa Biennale said it had made a last-minute decision to postpone a new work by Lina Lapelytė because its venue remains closed due to the government shutdown.
The work is called Lecture (New York)involves 100 children making what the description calls “primordial sounds—coos, cries, barks, howls, and growls.” This is a new version of an existing work that has been previously exhibited at venues such as the Paris Merchant Exchange.
Lapelytė, whose opera she composed for the Lithuanian pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale won a Golden Lion alongside Vaiva Grainytė and Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, had planned to debut the work on Wednesday at the National Memorial in Federal Hall, the nation’s first capitol. But because the site is operated by the National Park Service, it remains closed, like most other organizations that receive government funding, including the Smithsonian and the National Gallery of Art.
“Our original venue, Federal Hall, a historic site of American democracy where the oath and voice were once used to shape a nation, remains closed and managed by the National Park Service,” Performa said in a statement. “We are working with colleagues across the city to confirm new venues and will share updates as soon as they become available.”
Performa has rescheduled Wednesday’s show Lecture (New York) November 17th.
Lapelite’s work is one of eight works staged at this year’s Biennale. Other works include new works by Ayoung Kim, Camille Henrot and Pakui Hardware, who have previously represented Lithuania at the Venice Biennale.
