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Lina Lapelytė (Lithuania): Study of Slope

  • July 18 - 20, 2025

  • PS21 : Center for Contemporary Performance

    2980 New York 66
    Chatham, New York 12037
This event is now over
Description

A “moving, wistful, and immersive installation” (The New York Times). 

The New York Times critics pick makes its US premiere at PS21. A durational musical performance by Lithuanian interdisciplinary artist Lina Lapelytè (winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale 2019), Study of Slope is a performance-installation featuring a choir of self-identified non-musicians. 

 

By centering those without a “musical ear,” the work challenges the dominant codes of Western musical tradition that typically exclude off-key voices. These often-silenced voices resonate around the PS21 grounds, singing and moving continuously throughout the afternoon in a looping performance.         

 

Set within a landscape of nettles—plants often dismissed as weeds despite their healing properties—the work symbolically disrupts normative categorisations. The text sung by the performers is drawn from Sean Ashton’s Living in a Land, a fictional memoir where the narrator recounts only what he has never done or will never do. This exploration of absence invites reflection on identity, experience, and the individual’s place within a community.         

 

Starting with the voice, Study of Slope reimagines how we define musicality, expression, and belonging. It celebrates polyphony and personal difference while questioning how a truly collective voice might be formed. Since its debut in France, the work has continued to resonate in new contexts, inviting audiences elsewhere into its evolving sonic landscape. This marks the first time the piece will be performed in the United States.

Date & Time

Jul 18 - 20, 2025

Venue Details

PS21 : Center for Contemporary Performance

2980 New York 66
Chatham, New York 12037 PS21 : Center for Contemporary Performance
PS21 : Center for Contemporary Performance

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About PS21

A vibrant center for contemporary performance in the Hudson Valley, PS21 “presents work that challenges and invites” (The New York Times). Our adventurous productions by leading and emerging American and international artists showcase what’s new and thought-provoking in music, contemporary circus, dance, theater—and in entirely new genres. Largely supported by our generous donors, we’re a must-see, must-experience destination for performances that you won’t find anywhere else, at ticket prices that welcome all. 

Photography

PS21 will take photos of this event for use in social media and on our website. The photos sometimes include audiences. Your attendance at this performance indicates you consent to appear in PS21 photography. If you would prefer not to appear in any photos, please let a staff member know, and we will be glad to accommodate your request.


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