Disaster Karaoke
Wellington 2020
Kate Walker
Get your glow on for “Disaster Karaoke”, a satirical participatory performance and karaoke event, with songs from the last decades about political and social crises. Come sing about disaster, nuclear anxiety, political apocalypse and imagined utopias! This tongue in cheek project aims to provoke conversation about current thoughts, fears, actions and imaginings of dystopia/ utopia through karaoke performance.
Accompanied by a video backdrop mixing nuclear energy instructional video, archival propaganda ads, music videos and storm reporting footage, “Disaster Karaoke” presents a strange blend of joyous anxiety. Recreating a typical karaoke event, curated set lists are available in binders for song requests: over ninety "disaster themed" songs such as Prince’s “1999” (1982), Everything Everything’s “Radiant” (2013), St. Vincent’s “The Apocalyse Song” (2007), New Zealand classics include the Herbs’ “French Letter” (1982), Topp Twins, and Under the Shade’s “Home Brew” (2011).
An NZ artist currently based in the United States whose work encompasses painting, performance and video. Often made with groups in the community, Walker's choreographed performances and staged events speak to contemporary social issues, focusing on queer bodies and utopian/ dystopian imaginings in popular culture.
Walker has shown her work nationally and internationally including at Mason’s Screen, Wellington; Square 2, City Gallery, Wellington; The Suter Te Aratoi o Whakatu, Nelson; Toi Pōneke Gallery Wellington; Abstracta International Cinema Exhibition, Rome; 28th Festival Les Instants Video, Marseilles; Columbus State University, Columbus, GA; Queer Cultural Center SOMArts, San Francisco. Walker received her MFA from the University of Arizona in 2005 and currently teaches at Boise State University, Idaho.
Photo credits: Andy Lawless and Carrie Quinney
Supported by Wellington City Council Public Art Fund