"they are my toys and I am theirs!!!!"
– Charlemagne Palestine

divinitusssanimalusssacréusssorganusss, Charlemagne Palestine's exhibition at Experimental Sound Studio's Audible Gallery, is the first such exhibit of the artist's installation work in the United States. The work's components are hundreds of stuffed animals (a recurring trope in both Palestine's live performances and visual artwork) and an assemblage of droning keyboards. Palestine regards the stuffed animals as shamanic totems, and has referred to them as "my muses my divinities my gods my soul mates my link to eternity my gateway to foreverness"—toys in a "transcendental sacred game." They serve as animistic foils to the audio component of the work: a mass of continuous keyboard drones that evokes Palestine's own characterization of his musical works as "liquid continuums." Plural, maximal, and endless, divinitusssanimalusssacréusssorganusss constitutes an elegant and deeply personal manifestation of the ecstatic ritualism that lies at the core of the artist's oeuvre.

Curated by Amelia Ishmael.

OPENING RECEPTION: Sunday, March 16th, 3pm

GALLERY HOURS: Saturday & Sunday, 1pm–5pm*
OR email info@experimentalsoundstudio.org to schedule an appointment

*On Sunday, 03.23 and Saturday 04.13, the audio component of the exhibition will be silenced during regular gallery hours.

Palestine’s exhibition is part of a series of events during a week-long visit to Chicago organized by the Frequency Series at Constellation. On Friday, March 14 he’ll appear at University of Chicago’s Film Studies Center for a screening of his video work programmed by Michelle Puetz. On Saturday, March 15th, he will give a rare solo performance at Constellation, presented by the Frequency Series. And on Monday, March 17 he’ll perform his organ work Schlingen-Blängen at Rockefeller Chapel in a concert presented by the Renaissance Society. This trip to Chicago is also supported by the Sound Department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.