ECDYSIS

(AUDRA Festival, Kaunas, Lithuania, 2024)

"Instead of my world, there would soon be only ice, snow, stillness, death; no more violence, no war, no victims; nothing but frozen silence, absence of life" – Anna Kavan (Ice, 1967)

Ecdysis is an audio-visual collaboration between rapper and performer, Iceboy Violet and artist and set designer, Ella Skinner. This piece is performed within an ice sculpture which changes on exposure to heat, light, body and movement. The ice barrier between the performer and audience morphs into a world of dis//embodiment, ir//reality, in//ex//ternality and in//authenticity, between fantasy and reality in which the inner becomes the outer and the exoskeleton is obliterated.

Iceboy Violet’s vocal improvisation and fragments, freestyled rap and incidental sound from the structure and audience, paired with Skinner’s visceral, provocative and pseudo-spiritual scenographic design, create a sonic world of icey awe and terror.

Art Direction and Set Design: Ella Skinner

Musical Composition and Performance: Iceboy Violet

Ice: Ledo Meistrai

Curator: Tautvydas Urbelis

Lighting Design and Installation: Adomas Kaikaris

Special thanks to AUDRA Festival and SODAS 2123

Photography: Grazvydas Jovaisa & Matas Gineika