Grounded Outer Space People is in residency at 1014 in June 2023. This nomadic music ensemble and artist residency is conceived by Berlin-based artist Anton Kats and is orchestrated by the semi fictional musician and storyteller ILYICH.
This project is inspired by the complex narratives of Satellite Island, the artist’s hometown, in the southern Ukrainian port city of Kherson. Kats’s artistic trajectory is informed by the urgencies and pragmatics of legalization, as he sought asylum in Germany in the early aughts. His practice explores the conditions of migration, ranging from concrete political struggle to transmigration, as a playful mode of figuring out the poetics of displacement.
The newly formed ensemble will inhabit a temporary studio at 1014, with Kats and New York-based musicians Takuya Nakamura, Olivia Lucy Phillip, and Matt Evans, who will co-create a series of performances and interventions during the residency. This latest iteration of the project emerges in response to the military invasion of Ukraine. It traces the relationship between transmigration and music through collaborative readings, improvisations, listening sessions, storytelling, and cosmic relationality and invites the audience to unlearn predetermined relational models.
On June 9th at 6:30 pm at 1014, the ensemble will present If Life Has an End, Why Wouldn’t Death?, an immersive public performance that culminates their fleeting time together while materializing their shared research and ideas into visual, musical, and sonic elements.
ILYICH and Grounded Outer Space People is curated by Kari Conte and Benjamin Bergner.
Anton Kats’s work is motivated by questions of agency and intentionality. Flexibly augmenting art practice through sound, music, performance, radio, and research, Kats develops responsive and site-specific projects exploring the interdependencies of learning, migration, and the non-normative. Kats’s practice embraces sculptures and installations, objects and drawings, concerts, lectures, performances, poems, films, radio shows, radio plays, vinyl releases, and publications. Kats’s works have been presented at the 10th Berlin Biennale, BBC 6 Music, Bergen Kunsthall, documenta14, Athens; Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin; Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India; The Lot Radio, Brooklyn; Roskilde Festival, Denmark; SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin; Serpentine Galleries, London; The Showroom, London; Sonic Acts, Amsterdam; Tate Modern, London; and Victoria and Albert Museum, London, among others. https://antonkats.net
Olivia Lucy Phillip (she/they) is an actor, singer, and songwriter. Olivia most recently played Kate Jones opposite Edie Falco in CBS’s TOMMY. Amongst many other projects, Olivia has starred in multiple original Broadway cast Broadway productions (Waitress, Disaster!, Frozen) as well as numerous West End productions (Priscilla, The Book Of Mormon, Ghost). Olivia is passionate about healing, and dedicates this, and every artistic endeavor to children suffering in silence in abusive households. Don’t suffer alone - childhelphotline.org
Photo by Maxime Giordani
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Takuya Nakamura has been playing piano, various electronic keyboards, and trumpet for decades throughout the world. Born into a musical family in Tokyo, Japan, Takuya began performing early. He studied at Kunitachi College of Music and earned his Bachelor's in Music Composition. With his interest in exploring harmony and theory in music, Takuya was introduced to the Lydian chromatic concept by Geroge Russell, as well as through works and interviews from Toru Takemitsu, Miles Davis and Bill Evans. In 1994, Takuya moved to New York and became an integral and sought-after part of NYC's vibrant music scene. With his diverse background, he has distinguished himself in his compositions and performances by fusing uncommon styles of music. Since Takuya moved to NY, he performed with Laurie Anderson and Robert Wilson. World tours include CocoRosie and Jojo Mayer. Additional studio projects include remixes for Quincy Jones, staged with Lee Scratch Perry, GZA from Wu-tang Clan. https://www.pianowarp.com