Introduction

Ari Benjamin Meyers has been commissioned to create a new performance at an offsite venue, the Hémicycle – former seat of the European Parliament in Luxembourg (1979-1981) now part of the European Convention Centre of Luxembourg.

In using this symbolic building originally built for debate and decision-making, Meyers’ intimate yet intense performance considers codes of power and control. Taking the phenomenon of weather as a starting point, the work investigates predictability (or lack thereof) and the insatiable human need for prognoses, progress and domination over our planet. Reflecting on the climate crisis, as well as on the increasingly dramatic and irrational relationship between humans and nature, between humans and their future on the planet, the performance weaves together a myriad of historical facts and lays bare their often hidden connections, centering around the true story of David Buckel, an American lawyer who committed suicide by fire in New York in 2018 as a protest against the fossil fuel industry.

Forecast (LX23) is scored for two electric guitars, electric bass and performer. While lasting only one hour, the concentrated performance makes great demands of the performers as they attempt in real time to navigate Meyers’s intricate and dense construction of music and text.

Forecast (LX23) was conceived by Ari Benjamin Meyers and co-produced by Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean; Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein and Arta Sperto, Geneva.

This project was made possible with the support of the European Convention Center Luxembourg.