The other Sunday I went to the opening of Richard Grayson's 'The Golden Space City of God' at Matt's Gallery.
Future art historians will debate about the 'dark cube' instead of the 'white cube' of the gallery. White space was where you were allowed to be avant-garde, break the rules. But there are so many video installations that the dark cube is perhaps now the experimental space par excellence.
Grayson's last piece at Matt's was a Country & Western version of Handel's 'Messiah', based on the anti-unitarian Charles Jennens' text. This time Grayson's libretto is based on the the teachings of David Brandt Berg's The Children of God/The Family David Berg. After the defeat of Antichrist at Armageddon, the world will return to an agrarian utopia, and eventually God's Heavenly Space City 1,500 x 1,500 x 1,500 miles will land, save the chosen ones, and leave for other worlds.
Leo Chadburn has composed the music to the libretto. An American choir was filmed in San Antonio in 2009. It's a compelling experience and transcends the occasional moments when it reminds me of Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. The choir entering and leaving parallel the Matt's audience arriving and departing. It's on until the 28th June.
