Artist MJ Harper has been conceiving Arias for a New World for some years now, and during that time they have developed a performance piece that will premiere at Koko this Sunday, 15 October, in London, marking the end of Frieze London 2023. Previous iterations of the performance have been performed at the Serpentine in collaboration with Grace Wales Bonner and the V&A – invited by Tim Walker – but this version, styled by Katy England with Dior, is the culmination of years of work brought together in one, ambitious work of art.
‘I basically asked myself, all right… If Eartha Kitt and Pina Bausch were still alive and they were my age and had an iPhone, what would the work look like?’ said MJ Harper over video chat as they took a break for rehearsal. ‘That was a base layer and then on top of it, I thought, and then what if they were working with modalities that Wayne McGregor used, and William Forsythe used and so I just basically became obsessed and started approaching the platform, in this sort of very academic and cerebral way.’
Bringing in their Jamaican American heritage, and building on their love of the work of favourite artists – from the iconic gay activist Derek Jarman, to the legendary dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch and the Black Hollywood glamour of Eartha Kitt – Harper is now seeking to channel their inspirations into something entirely new.
MJ Harper on ‘Arias for a New World’
MJ Harper
Harper moved to Berlin from London after an injury meant they had to cease dancing with the Wayne McGregor company, and took a job at Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich under Barry Kosky. This led to joining Komische Oper in Berlin, a change of pace and direction that meant they had the space to expand on their personal practice.
‘On lunch break, I would sneak away and make things in the studio, or I would stay a little bit later and then from what I would make in the studio, I would put that together into little solos. Eventually, this thing started to kind of develop where I just created this character that I thought was really interesting and then I realised that it was basically a portrait of the experience of my mum and I immigrating to the States.’
Arias for a New World has been scored by Antoni Komasa-Lazarkiewicz and will be accompanied by him and composer Thomas Moked Blum, while being shot by filmmaker Matt Lambert. Exploring themes of eroticism, ritual, personal history, gesture, elegance and religion, Harper is truly trying to do something creatively new, something groundbreaking. This quest takes in their identity as being Jamaican and American, a childhood spent being raised by a single mother, and being an artist concerned with the avant-garde. Harper is looking to something fresh and boundary-pushing.
‘It's sexy, it's like it's a fever dream, but to this day, I don't really know how to describe it. I think what's been really fun has been that from every iteration that I've done, the consensus from people [is that] they actually don't know what they've experienced.’
MJ Harper performs Arias for a New World at Koko on 15 October, tickets can be found here
-
Doc’n Roll Festival returns with a new season of underground music filmsNow in its twelfth year, the grassroots festival continues to platform subcultural stories and independent filmmakers outside the mainstream
-
Commune Design’s new rug collection is a psychedelic tripThe Los Angeles-based company worked with Christopher Farr on its groovy rug collection inspired by 1960s and 1970s Northern California
-
The Hart Marylebone marks the next chapter in London’s design-led pubsThe trio behind The Pelican and The Hero turn to Marylebone, fusing Victoriana, intimacy and culinary honesty in their most ambitious project yet
-
Doc’n Roll Festival returns with a new season of underground music films
Now in its twelfth year, the grassroots festival continues to platform subcultural stories and independent filmmakers outside the mainstream
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors' picks of the weekThe London office of Wallpaper* had a very important visitor this week. Elsewhere, the team traverse a week at Frieze
-
Chantal Joffe paints the truth of memory and motherhood in a new London showA profound chronicler of the intimacies of the female experience, Chantal Joffe explores the elemental truth of family dynamics for a new exhibition at Victoria Miro
-
Leo Costelloe turns the kitchen into a site of fantasy and uneaseFor Frieze week, Costelloe transforms everyday domesticity into something intimate, surreal and faintly haunted at The Shop at Sadie Coles
-
Can surrealism be erotic? Yes if women can reclaim their power, says a London exhibition‘Unveiled Desires: Fetish & The Erotic in Surrealism, 1924–Today’ at London’s Richard Saltoun gallery examines the role of desire in the avant-garde movement
-
Tiffany & Co’s artist mentorship at Frieze London puts creative exchange centre stageAt Frieze London 2025, Tiffany & Co partners with the fair’s Artist-to-Artist initiative, expanding its reach and reaffirming the value of mentorship within the global art community
-
Em-Dash is a small press redefining the indie zine beyond nostalgiaThe South London publishing studio's new imprint 'Practice Meets Paper' translates a chosen artist’s practice into print. Wallpaper*s senior designer Gabriel Annouka speaks with the founders, Saundra Liemantoro and Aarushi Matiyani, to find out more
-
‘It is about ensuring Africa is no longer on the periphery’: 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in LondonThe 13th edition of 1-54 London will be held at London’s Somerset House from 16-19 October; we meet founder Touria El Glaoui to chart the fair's rising influence
