Inspired by composer Igor Stravinsky’s 1919 “Firebird Suite”, Touki Delphine presents FIREBIRD, a rule-breaking concert program and an extraterrestrial installation in one — including an “orchestra” concepted entirely of light. In the culmination of Touki Delphine’s MASS MoCA residency over 600 recycled car taillights, sourced locally in the Berkshires, will illuminate the dance of the firebird in a thoroughly hypnotic event that is hard to describe.

Viewings take place at the following times throughout the day:
January 28–29 & 31 and February 1–2: 11am and 12, 2 & 4pm
February 3: 11am & 12pm

On January 26 at 8pm, the ticketed performance provides an intimate encounter with the installation, the result of a residency at MASS MoCA.

On January 27 during Free Day, catch viewings throughout the day!

“An immersive experience, a phenomenal experiment in form, a pagan ritual.” – Theaterkrant

“As if God were video-gaming on stained glass windows from the scrapyard.” – The Volkskrant

“An epic update of Stravinsky’s Firebird.” – The Standaard

About the Artists:

Bo Koek, Rik Elstgeest, John van Oostrum & Chris Doyle are Touki Delphine, an artist collective of musicians, performers and visual artists. The members draw from their eclectic backgrounds to create stimulating visual works and modern music performances. In their multidimensional works, they pull from classic and modern music from all corners of the globe, and combine reinterpretations with original compositions and new visual concepts crossing and blurring disciplinary boundaries. Committed and resourceful. Serious and playful. An open question or visual stimulant can form a point of departure. Their methods result in a unique, dynamic cross-pollination of the arts.

Inspired by the climate crisis and the insights of Alexander von Humboldt that nature is a living whole, not a dysfunctional mass — that stones, plants, animals, and people are all permeated by creative force — Touki Delphine pursues a restoration of balance between nature and modern humans. With all of our technological advancements, humans have significantly disrupted nature over the past two centuries. There is no going back. But maybe there’s a way forward. Not by deeming technology the leading culprit, but by achieving a new harmony with the help of that technology.

Using recycled materials, technological inventions, and new or adapted compositions, Touki Delphine creates installations that explore these themes and the relationship between nature, humans, and technology.

Major support for FIREBIRD is provided by the Performing Arts Fund NL.
This program is supported as part of the Dutch Culture USA program of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York.