Join us for the exciting premiere and performance of Michelle Lopez: Pandemonium, a two-pronged exhibition presented concurrently at The Galleries at Moore and the Fels Planetarium at the Franklin Institute. On Friday, October 3, two performances will take place in the Fels Planetarium with a reception to follow across the street at Moore, check back soon for more details and instructions on how to register for this one-time event.
Lopez’s Pandemonium, a new, immersive multimedia video commissioned by Moore and filmed specifically for the planetarium, anchors the 4D experience of the exhibition. As the whirlwind of Pandemonium unfolds across the vast space of the planetarium, animated debris and archival material swirl past which include 1950s-70s newspaper headlines that speak to social and political upheaval. Lopez considers the tornado as a devastating natural phenomenon stemming from unstoppable climate change and as a symbol of the swelling media landscape of misinformation. Cyclical and destructive, the tornado points toward imminent global collapse.
Performances on October 3 will feature an AI-inspired robot designed in collaboration with choreographer Susannah Yugler; a team of engineering graduate students under UPenn professor Mark Yim; Asa Whitney, Professor of Mechanical Engineering; as well as elements of live musical performance. Lopez also worked closely with composer Joshua Hey and sound designer and musician Eugene Lew on the score comprised of violists and sound technology, as well as RAIR Philly, whose grounds in Tacony were used to film the first iteration of a custom-built simulation machine designed to mimic the cyclonic movements of a tornado.
Around the corner in Moore’s galleries, the exhibition will present selected sculptural works that seem to teeter on collapse or imply imminent changes in atmosphere and perception. Significant sculptural works that prefigure Pandemonium such as House of Cards (2016) and Smoke Clouds (2014) demonstrate Lopez’s deep understanding of material and formal strategies to bring precarious forms to life. These will be juxtaposed with an in-gallery presentation of Pandemonium in the form of a hovering disc onto which Lopez’s film will be projected, offering an alternate experience of the maelstrom as if caught in an oculus or skylight.
Read more about the exhibition and related programming here.
Image courtesy of the artist.
The project is presented at the Galleries at Moore College and at the Fels Planetarium in partnership with the Franklin Institute. The exhibition has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
