Urban Birds – The Plasticene
Anuj Bhutani, composer
Ashton Phillips, curator/creator
Chohi Kim, vocalist
Sara Sinclair Gomez, vocalist
MA Harms, percussion
Sadie Greyduck, bass
Yozmit, vocalist
Carmina Escobar, vocalist
Jasmine Albuquerque, movement and choreography (Act 1 and 3)
B Gosse, movement and mobile sound projection (Act 3)
Jas Lin, movement and mobile sound projection (Act 3)
As part of our annual series, Urban Birds 2025 – The Plasticene celebrates the work of the International Bird Rescue while bringing awareness to the impacts of ocean plastics. This family-friendly festival features crafts and activities for all ages as well as a progressive, site-specific performance curated by Ashton Philips in collaboration with Anuj Bhutani.
This mobile performance explores the space in four acts.
Act 1 evokes the last Age of Mass Extinction and the Genesis of Petroleum, with performances and site-specific installation by Anuj Bhutani (vocals and synthesizer), Sadie Greyduck (double bass and electronics), and Ashton S. Phillips (projection and architectural installation).
Act 2 traces the re-emergence of life after that age of mass extinction. Using site-specific bird calls, the audience is transformed into a roving flock as we cross the space.
Video artist Nina Sarnelle will perform a visual and sonic meditation on the unfolding Age of Mass Extinction. Video will include excerpts from Nina’s Lost Shark alongside Taylor Griffith’s underwater video documentation of local oil spills.
In Act 3, participants will move through a restaging of an immersive interspecies field hospital with stations centered on the most common forms of care provided to wild birds at the Bird Rescue clinic: oiled bird washing and feeding, fishing net and hook entanglement and removal, avian flu screening, euthanasia, and release.
Act 4 imagines a posthuman future of human defeat and interspecie metamorphosis. Yozmit the Dogstar will perform a version of a Korean opera song about a King who lost all of his power and wealth after a military defeat, but found hope, renewal, and freedom through a shamanic metamorphosis into bird form.Note: our May 10th event is in conjunction with the International Bird Rescue Open House, taking place next door to Angels Gate Cultural Center. Both events will be accessible to visitors on that day.
This concert is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs
